She Will Be Loved
by LyraKatori
Summary: After Natsu bluntly kicks Lucy off the team and replaces her with Lisanna, the blonde mage feels utterly heartbroken and takes some time away from Fairy Tail to become stronger. While she is on a boat going to the town of Castelia where her new life will begin, Lucy finds a strange blue spell book in her cabin. She learns some new magic, and meets a caring guy too. Read & Review.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does. This story was made for fun, and not for cash. (How unfortunate.)**

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**Chapter 1: Rejection, Manipulation, and Vacation**

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Lucy sat alone at a table in the Fairy Tail guild, eating a chocolate cake with strawberries on it, and she sighed a bit while noticing that almost nobody in the guild had been speaking to her at all. They hadn't even talked to her ever since Lisanna Strauss came back from Edolas all those years ago, and the guild members had seemed like they were hiding some kind of secret from her.

Ever since Lisanna's return, everyone had been ignoring Lucy like she didn't even exist. The only people who would talk to her were Wendy, Carla, Gajeel, Lily, Levy, and Master. They noticed that she was still around, but those people were gone now. Gajeel and Lily were training up in the mountains, Levy was on a mission with Team Shadowgear, and Wendy was out on a job with Carla. This meant that Lucy was left alone for a while, causing her to be a bit depressed.

She had to take many dangerous solo missions to pay her rent of 70,000 jewels and buy groceries, which was not easy. Every time she came back from a mission, Lucy would have cuts and bruises from the harsh jobs. Wendy would always heal her injuries, but Lucy was tired of going on such deadly jobs. She wished that Natsu and the others were there to back her up, but they weren't.

Right now, they seemed to be discussing something important with Lisanna. Team Natsu hadn't been taking any jobs because they were too busy listening to Lisanna's stories about her time in the world of Edolas. Their laziness really irritated Lucy, but she would never show any negative emotions towards them. After all, Lisanna was on the team before she was there with Natsu.

Upon seeing the fire dragon slayer smirk while motioning with his left hand for her to come over to the table where the group of five (Plus Happy, who was sitting on the center of the table) had been situated, Lucy got up with a small smile and walked over there with optimism in her brown eyes. She always had a crush on Natsu, blushing when he would sneak into her bed while his heat warmed her up, and his fiery attitude on missions was really appealing to the stellar mage. Right now, a warm feeling found its way into her chest since Natsu's smile meant that he always said what he thought was a positive statement.

"Lucy, I have the greatest news ever! Lisanna wants our group to go on jobs together just like old times! This is so great!" Natsu told her with a happy grin on his face while laughing excitedly.

"Natsu, that's great! It would be nice to have more people in the group when we go out on jobs." Lucy replied with a happy smile on her face while looking at Natsu, before turning to Lisanna with a cheerful smile.

The fire dragon slayer kindly explained, knowing that Lucy misunderstood him, "Luce, that's not what I meant. Lisanna wants her spot back on Team Natsu, so we have to oust you. You're just really weak, and your fighting skills really suck. You also get caught by monsters on missions, and I always have to end up saving you because you can't do anything yourself."

At that moment, Gray and Erza respectively punched and kicked Natsu in the face for being so blunt with his reasons for wanting Lisanna on the team. They knew that Lucy was a very sensitive person, and it would only hurt worse if Natsu's explanation had gotten to the point where he admitted that he was in love with Lisanna because of her angelic appearance and slashing skills. They didn't want to hurt Lucy even worse, since she was fragile.

"Lucy, wait!" Gray shouted while looking concerned, as he saw her run up to the guild's second floor, only to be stopped by Erza since she knew that sympathetic words could only make the feeling of being replaced become far worse than it already was.

* * *

Lucy had run up to the second floor where Master Makarov's office was located, and the door was directly to the left of the staircase for no one to miss it. Lucy was trying to hold back her tears from hearing those words come out of the mouth of the guy she had really liked, and she couldn't believe that he had indirectly called her unreliable. She may have relied on her keys, but it wasn't her fault that she loved her spirits.

Wiping away her tears and slowly opening the door to Master's office, Lucy put on her best smile to not cause any alarm. She just wanted to leave quietly without anymore drama occurring, and the blonde mage really had to make up a good reason for wanting to leave. After all, she really didn't want to seem like a quivering and sad puppy that was weak.

"Master Makarov, I want to take a vacation for a while." She explained nicely while smiling a bit, as she opened his door to see him sitting at his desk while putting a folder of papers in a desk drawer.

"Really, my child? If you don't mind me asking, how long will you be gone?" He asked kindly, knowing she was one of the children of his guild.

"It might be a few months, or maybe it might be a few years. I just want some time away from the guild to clear my head and think about some things, but I'll still keep my guild mark." Lucy told him with a small smile on her face, trying her best to hide her sadness.

"If that's the case, then I understand your reasons for wanting to take some time off. Vacationing is important at times, and you may take a few jobs from the request board to assist yourself with gathering money." Master replied calmly, folding his arms while smiling a bit.

Lucy walked towards his desk, and she extended her right arm outward for him to see the pink guild mark on the back of her right hand. He rubbed her hand gently, and Lucy's brown eyes caught sight of her Fairy Tail insignia still staying on her hand while it glowed a bit. She thanked Master Makarov for everything that Fairy Tail had done for her up until now, but she certainly wouldn't mention what Natsu had said like it was something for her to be happy about.

As she left his office and walked down the stairs to the first floor of the Fairy Tail guild, Lucy's brown eyes widened in pure shock from the sight of Natsu kissing Lisanna while they stood in the center of the guild. She felt her heart be pounded down on by a crashing wave of rejection and deception, since Natsu never even mentioned that he loved Lisanna. Had he been hiding this little secret from her, thinking he could lead her on with flirtatious remarks like he had done in the past while he was dating Lisanna?

She wasn't going to let herself be cheated on by Natsu, and the way he kicked her off the team with his typical denseness made Lucy sniffle a bit while some tears fell to the floor. She couldn't believe that Natsu had thought she was merely a weakling, and Lucy cried a bit while running past the kissing duo with her hands over her sad face. She was now going to leave Fairy Tail, and leaving Natsu was the best thing for her to do.

Not knowing where she would be going for her "vacation" was certainly a troubling thing, but Lucy hadn't even been across most of Fiore yet. There were many unexplored places, many towns that she hadn't seen, and she immediately had the plan of going back to her apartment to check the mailbox that contained quite a collection of the travel brochures that she had ignored.

Of course, if this was a vacation, Lucy could just take her Celestial Spirit Keys with her and not use them. After all, she would probably only need Aquarius and Loke if she had the crazy idea of trying to surf waves at the beach without any real experience at the tough sport that involved surfing tough waves. Besides, she also wouldn't be going away by boat with the risk of sailing into rough waters.

Not only that, but Natsu's words about her being weak were beginning to resonate in her head. She clenched her fists tightly, ashamed that she always had to watch from the background and rely on others, but how could she possibly improve herself? Lucy herself had told Master Makarov that her vacation would last for a few months or even a few years, and he gave her the opportunity to join any other guild to start fresh and take her mind off of Natsu.

However, unknown to Lucy, the fire dragon slayer hadn't exactly reached that decision with any actual bad intentions in mind for the blonde mage. He had been blushing while Lisanna wrapped her arms around his neck, and she wrapped her arms around his waist. These two really were a couple, and Mirajane seemed very happy that her younger sister had now found a boyfriend to make her love life good. Of course, being the older sister and Fairy Tail's matchmaker, Mira would definitely be asking for details on their relationship.

Natsu asked Lisanna while he broke the kiss, smiling a bit while scratching the back of his head, "Hey, Lisanna. Are you sure that Lucy will hate me for just giving you a little lesson on kissing? This first kiss is just between us, and we could become something more while we work together."

The white-haired mage replied with an innocent-looking face, having regret in her blue eyes from what she was going to say, "Natsu, Lucy loves you just as much as I do. Erza told me how Lucy has a crush on you, but you never noticed it. I love you so much for being a great guy, and I'll try my best to give her a good apology when we can find time to talk."

Natsu looked a bit shocked from hearing that Lucy had been harboring some sweet feelings for him, but he only liked her as a friend. She honestly didn't have all the qualities that the fire dragon slayer wanted in a woman, and he preferred to be with Lisanna because of how considerate and powerful she was. He had also known Lisanna for a much longer period of time, and Natsu wanted to rekindle what was once a tiny childish flame and turn it into a grown blaze of love.

While the newly formed couple looked happy about the different goals they had for any tension to not be in their relationship, Lucy gave them a saddened facial expression while she walked out of Fairy Tail's entrance doors and wondered what destiny had in store for her. She wanted to become stronger on this journey of hers, but she had to decide where to go.

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**How was the 1st chapter? Did you like it? This is my newest story, and any kind of criticism is really appreciated. Let me know your thoughts on "She Will Be Loved."**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does. This story was made for fun, and not for cash. (How unfortunate.)**

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**Chapter 2: The Sealed Book**

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After leaving the Fairy Tail guild on that same day, Lucy had spent the entire night packing her suitcase for the vacation that she was about to embark on. She still didn't know where in the world to go, and she also didn't know where any other guilds besides Fairy Fairy Tail were located in Fiore. This was quite a dilemma, since she didn't even have maps of faraway lands for her to really start a new life.

Lucy didn't know what the other side of Fiore was like, since she had never gone there with Team Natsu, and it would be a pretty stupid move to go there without having any information about it. This meant that she had to show up early in the morning at the Fairy Tail guild for some answers, and she would definitely find out about the other side of Fiore and faraway lands.

She also wanted to have the chance to say goodbye to Cana, Wendy, Erza, and Gray since she wouldn't be coming back to the guild for quite a long time. Lucy didn't know how she was going to do it, but she would show everyone that a few years of training would increase her Celestial Spirit Magic to where it couldn't be stopped. She would be able to summon ten spirits from the golden keys, the same number of keys she currently owned.

Her confidence levels were at a high point, knowing that great things were probably waiting in the future for her, but Lucy also felt nervous about joining a new guild. What would it be like? Would she make any new friends? Could she get along with anyone while healing the pain in her heart? She laid in her bed while sadly looking up at the ceiling in her apartment that was darkened by the night, and Lucy wondered if she was making the right decision.

Speaking of decisions, she still couldn't believe that Natsu kicked her off the team and replaced her with Lisanna. The fact that he was so calm about it certainly irked Lucy, and she had doubt in her brown eyes. She had really loved Natsu, having a crush on him, but he was in love with Lisanna. His heart was out of Lucy's reach, and she really couldn't hide her depression.

_"I want to become a stronger mage, but I also want to find that one special guy who will love me. I want to find the guy who won't see only my level of strength, but he loves me for my personality and my many other qualities. I really wonder if there is a guy out there for me, and I really wonder if he would be the one for me." _Lucy thought to herself while letting out a depressed sigh, before trying to close her eyes and get some sleep.

The blonde mage quickly drifted off to sleep, becoming engulfed in a dream, and she let her head gently stay on the comfy pillow of her bed. Lucy's thoughts of becoming stronger were still in her head, as she unconsciously muttered something about opening four gates, and she also murmured a few words about having friends who would admire her determined heart.

Lucy blushed in her sleep, imagining a nice guy who would give her roses or chocolate, and he would even take her out on a romantic date. He was her dream guy, but he still lacked a name. This guy was supposedly confident and capable of letting Lucy fight while they took down 100 monsters, and Lucy even sighed happily when she imagined herself sharing a kiss with her make-believe boyfriend.

She loved to go shopping with him, assist him on jobs that they did together, and Lucy would even feed him delicious food in restaurants whenever they came back from missions. The amount of money that they had was incredible, and Lucy loved to be with this guy. However, she never knew who he was. She didn't even know much about him, really.

That's how her dreams of love had always gone, and that always made her depressed when she woke up. Seeing Natsu and Lisanna in the morning wouldn't exactly be the best thing for her, and Lucy had really wished that she had never seen them kiss. That caused her to toss and turn while she was sleeping, and Lucy had to get the negativity out of her head.

As the night hours passed by, Lucy found it a bit more difficult to sleep. She was about to go on a long journey, free from stress, but what would happen? She slowly opened her cocoa brown eyes to see that it was nighttime, and her alarm clock seemed to be saying that the current time was 6:25 in the morning. She had slept for six hours, and Lucy got out of bed.

She really needed to clear her mind, have it free from all of the stressful thoughts, and Lucy didn't even notice that the sun had risen into the sky to signal the start of a new day. Some sunlight shined directly on to her, giving her some warming light, and Lucy smiled happily from the sun's way of giving her some encouragement. She needed to be filled with light and positive energy, after all.

Deciding on her course of action, Lucy walked over to her desk and sat down in the chair. She narrowed her brown eyes while grabbing a pen and two pieces of paper, and Lucy wrote two heartfelt letters. One of them was addressed to her landlady for her to know that she would no longer be paying the monthly rent of 70,000 jewels, and the other letter was addressed to Wendy.

Wendy and Lucy had been like sisters after the young blue-haired girl had joined Fairy Tail, having a great bond of friendship, and Wendy could always help Lucy out with her problems. Leaving Magnolia would certainly be a tough thing to do, but Lucy knew in her heart that she would see Wendy again. The girls would definitely cross paths again one day, but they had to part ways for now. To cushion the blow, Lucy grabbed the letter while putting it in an envelope to put it in the guild's mailbox for Wendy to find it. With her courage now growing, Lucy ran out of her apartment while not even caring that she was in her pink pajamas.

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**At the Fairy Tail guild...**

Arriving at dawn, Lucy noticed that the guild's entrance doors were surprisingly wide open with everyone in the guild sleeping on the floor, in chairs, and even on the tables. They had been celebrating about Lisanna for another night, and now they were all sleeping soundly while snoring. Natsu was even sleeping next to Lisanna with her in his arms at a table in the back of the guildhall, something that Lucy tried to ignore, and she simply walked past everybody with a somewhat calm facial expression.

Gray had been sleeping next to Juvia on the floor, Gajeel and Levy were sleeping at a table together, and Evergreen slept against a wall next to Elfman. Seeing all the couples had certainly made Lucy jealous, but she tried shrugging off the feeling when she noticed something odd upstairs. The door to the library was open, but who could be reading books so early in the morning?

The sounds of a broom sweeping the floor upstairs could be heard, and Lucy was intrigued by the fact that someone was awake. She looked around the guildhall to do a head count, seeing who was in Fairy Tail at the moment, and the only person who appeared to be missing was everyone's favorite white-haired barmaid. Mira must've been cleaning, but why so early?

Lucy went upstairs quickly, making sure the creaks of the stairs wouldn't last long to wake anyone up, and she headed to the library with the letter for Wendy. She wanted to give it to Mira, knowing she would definitely give it to Wendy, and the blonde mage softly giggled at the fact that every single minute of this great plan led her closer to her vacation.

As she peeked her head into the library, Lucy noticed that Mirajane was taking many books off of a bookshelf. They didn't look old, but they were in the section of the library that was restricted and only authorized to S-Class mages and Makarov. These books were forbidden from being read or checked out, knowing that they could cause problems in the wrong hands.

"Good morning, Mira." Lucy whispered while smiling a bit, as she saw the pile of books that Mira had made.

Mirajane replied in a somewhat startled tone, not expecting anyone to be awake or enter the guild at this time in the morning, "Oh my gosh! Hi, Lucy! You frightened me for a moment."

"What's with all the books on the floor? Does Master want them to be moved to Fairy Hills?" Lucy curiously asked while looking at Mira, seeing all the books in perfect condition.

Mira explained with kindness in her blue eyes, seeming happy, "He actually wants them all to be burned because they contain secrets that are known only to our guild, and he's afraid that someone will try getting their hands on something important like Lumen Histoire. Just because we won the Grand Magic Games a few months ago, that doesn't mean we're safe. Fairy Tail's regained fame can attract thieves instead of mages, you know."

As she let out a soft yawn, Mira let Lucy know that she had to go get some coffee from a cafe in Magnolia to keep herself awake for this task. She also kindly requested that Lucy help her out with the task of removing the last few books from the shelf since she was already here, and Lucy seemed happy with such an easy task. She walked past the pile of books, going over to the shelf, and there were only five books on it.

The blonde mage was about about to take one off of the shelf, but the sounds of tables breaking and people yelling downstairs certainly startled her. The Fairy Tail guild was now back in its usual rowdy state with many of the members brawling over nonsense, and Lucy could tell from Natsu's happy yelling that he accidentally breathed out fire and got a certain ice mage angry.

Quickly regaining her focus back, Lucy looked at the bookshelf and saw a mysterious sight. The five books had changed to being only four, and one of them was missing. How was that possible? Lucy hadn't taken one off of the shelf, and no one else was in the library with her. Something seemed amiss, but then Lucy thought that she miscounted.

She smiled a bit from having this simple task of removing four books off the shelf, but the rowdiness of the Fairy Tail guild was enough to shake the building and knock the books right off of that shelf. With her task now done, thanks to that unexpected assistance, Lucy ran out of the library and hastily went downstairs while ignoring all the brawling. Lucy also took a flyer from the request board to help herself get some cash, and she knew that the path to become stronger would reveal itself through hard work.

Since it looked like Wendy and Carla had left the guild to avoid the brawl, Lucy couldn't give the letter to her young friend. She also didn't want to be seen by Natsu and Lisanna right now, so Lucy ran back to her apartment as fast as she could. While she ran back home with a somewhat disappointed facial expression, Lucy unknowingly passed by a beautiful woman who appeared to be around the same age as Erza.

She had silvery-blue hair that fell to her hips, fair skin, and silvery-blue eyes. This woman also wore a yellow top with a pair of white jeans to match, and she also wore some yellow high heels. Her cleavage was ample like Cana's, and the mysterious lady sniffed the air for a moment before smirking a bit about something.

_"My, my. What a beautiful blonde young girl, yet she seems so saddened by something. She reminds me of my master in the old days when our plan was nearly finished, until Zeref and Acnologia put a halt to it. However, the scent of strawberries and vanilla with the personality of seeming so innocent... This maiden is quite perfect for my master's return, and something else I noticed earlier will be of great assistance." _The mysterious woman thought to herself with a scheming grin, before sinking down into the shadows to secretly follow Lucy.

* * *

**Back at Lucy's apartment...**

The brown-eyed girl had placed the flyer from earlier down on the table, and Lucy was stunned to find out that this job was going to take place in a town that was all the way across the sea from Magnolia. She wasn't really that accustomed to traveling by boat, and Lucy looked even more surprised to discover that the reward for this job was 800,000 jewels. Quite a high amount of money, don't you think?

Taking this job would mean she could be pretty rich for a while on her vacation, making things easier for her when she had to travel and buy many things, but then Lucy read the job description. She had to enter the Castelia Sewers to capture a gang of wanted criminals that hung out down there, and they supposedly used Poison Magic. Lucy knew that none of her spirits could handle poison, and neither could she.

On top of that, she wanted to start her vacation in a place where there wouldn't be any major hardships for her to overcome. She certainly wished that someone could assist her on this job, but Lucy also had the conflicting resolve to become stronger on her own for Natsu to see that she wasn't weak anymore and he made a mistake when he kicked her off the team.

Lucy had opened her mailbox earlier to find many travel brochures inside, each one advertising a different place, and many of these towns were on the other side of Fiore. That would keep the blonde mage far from Natsu while she was on her vacation, and she certainly didn't want to see him again for a while. She was about to read one of the travel brochures, but a soft knock at her apartment door interrupted her thoughts. Had Natsu and Happy decided to knock this time instead of breaking in like they always did?

She definitely wanted to tell off the fire dragon slayer for looking so happy when he announced that she was getting replaced with Lisanna, and Lucy had gone to the kitchen to hit him with a frying pan if he wasn't here to apologize for being rude enough to push her feelings aside and kiss Lisanna like he loved her so much. She wasn't interested in hearing about their relationship, either.

"Natsu, I don't want to hear about how much you love Lisanna! I don't care, and-" Lucy shouted with a stern facial expression, tension in her brown eyes, before noticing that she was talking to the wrong person.

The woman with silvery-blue hair and silvery-blue eyes had appeared in front of her apartment, retrieving a blue book from the shadow of the door before the blonde mage had opened it, and the mysterious lady held it in her hands while smiling a bit to not arouse any suspicion from Lucy. There was also a pink envelope placed on the book, too. What was going on? Had Natsu ordered something from a catalog and put the delivery and payment in Lucy's name?

"Hello, young lady. I am Karen Melancholia, a traveling merchant who sells many items that people would really desire. You seem to be a fairly cute and innocent girl, and I am in quite a predicament." The mysterious woman told Lucy while she calmly smiled and handed the pink envelope to the blonde female.

When Lucy curiously asked what kind of trouble the merchant was in, the woman with silvery-blue hair demonstrated her problem by trying to open the blue spell book in her hands. It wasn't budging one bit, not even opening at all, and Karen gave up after her fifth attempt. She even told Lucy that the mighty Laxus Dreyar couldn't even help her open it, making the blonde mage wonder who would make a book like that.

Lucy told her in a concerned tone, having worry in her brown eyes as she saw Karen's hands looking sore, "That really is a problem for you, but I still don't understand why the book won't open. I mean, you should just get some grease and-"

"The blue book of spells has a magic seal on it that will only be broken for a person with a soul that is pure as silver and they must have a heart of gold, you see. If someone like me tries to open the book, it won't work. You should see if you can open this book, young lady. If you are able to do so, you may have whatever is inside. It would probably be of no use to someone like me." Karen interrupted and explained while still remaining calm, seeing the pureness in Lucy's eyes.

It wouldn't hurt to give it a try to help out a person who nicely made this request, so Lucy gently took the book from Karen's hands and looked at its cerulean blue color for a moment. The book looked beautiful to Lucy, seeing it as some great reading material she could have on her vacation, and the blonde girl smiled a bit while placing her left hand on the blue book's front cover.

Much to her surprise, and to Karen's delight, blue beams of light shined brightly from the book when Lucy had been able to open it. She gasped in awe at the weird writing on the first page, seeing it to be in a possibly olden language because of the characters looking like nothing she had ever seen. The first two lines of words on the first page were in a cerulean blue color while the rest of the page and the pages following it were also in black text. Lucy found herself able to understand the words in blue, but not the words in black, despite never having seen either language before.

Lucy read from the blue book in a happy manner, excitement in her cocoa brown eyes, "First spell of Water Magic, I call upon thee! Aqua Ball!"

In an instant, a blue sphere of energy formed in the palm of Lucy's right hand. It grew to the size of her hand, before propelling itself off her hand and popping like a little water balloon when it hit the building across from her apartment. She thought that spell was a bit cute, and Lucy did it four more times as a little bit of a warm-up for any future jobs that required target practice.

Karen looked a bit happy from this result, and she could see that Lucy was now excited about her new life. The other spells would probably be better than the first one, and Lucy couldn't wait to try them out. She smiled happily at Karen, thanking her for showing up at her doorstep with this life-changing book, and Lucy ran inside quickly to zip up her black suitcase. The ship to Castelia would be leaving in 30 minutes, and Lucy hurriedly ran out of her apartment while thanking Karen as she made her way to the harbor.

Unknown to Lucy, however, her five Aqua Balls from earlier weren't just like little water balloons. They made five miniature blue blasts of energy transpire, destroying the building that was on the other side of the canal, and the sound of the blasts had gotten the attention of many people. Karen quickly went inside and closed the door before Team Natsu showed up, and the devious smile on her face could tell anyone that she was glad about that little spell having an adequate amount of power.

_"That went well, and I'm quite glad to have finally found the maiden who is the reader of my master's book. However, it would be wise to keep an eye on her and make sure that nothing goes wrong in this plan. Let's see just how strong she can get." _Karen thought to herself, giggling a bit before sinking down into the shadows outside to travel through the darkness.

* * *

**At the harbor...**

Lucy had ran down to Magnolia's harbor as fast as she could, knowing the ship to Castelia always left at 7:00 in the morning, and she could smell the salty air while feeling the calm ocean breeze. She got on to the cruise ship known as the S.S. Aqua, a fast luxury ship that had comfortable accommodations for its passengers, and the smile on Lucy's face could tell anyone that she was enjoying this part of the vacation already.

One of the sailors assisting the passengers had directed Lucy to a room at the end of the hallway, and she admired the blue carpet while admiring the walls that had been painted sapphire blue like the sea. She had also received a cobalt card key that granted her access in and out of her room, and Lucy's brown eyes twinkled when she walked inside to notice how the room was so clean and shiny.

There was also a golden food cart in the room that had many desserts on it, and there was also a coffee machine plugged into one of the outlets. It had dispensers for sugar, cream, and there were buttons for different types of coffee. Lucy also noticed that her cabin had a two-person blue bed, and there was also a porthole for her to have a nice view of the ocean while she saw some seagulls flying over the calm blue sea.

The blonde mage took a white coffee mug off of the food cart, and she put it under the coffee machine's dispenser to start off her vacation with a hot drink. She pressed a blue button with the words "Caramel Coffee" written under the button, and caramel coffee obviously was poured into the white mug. It had a sweet smell to it, not surprising since it was caramel-flavored, and Lucy smiled at the sight of steam rising from the cup.

While she let her coffee cool down to a warm temperature for her to drink it, Lucy also grabbed a white plate with a cherry pie on it to have that as her breakfast. She had also grabbed a silver fork from the food cart, and Lucy sat down on the bed to enjoy her breakfast. She had also placed the blue spell book on the bed, and it really made Lucy curious.

She didn't know how the words in that strange blue text were easy for her to understand, and Lucy also wondered about that Aqua Ball spell. She saw it only as a mediocre prank to play on people, since all it could do was explode like a water balloon, but she had left a few moments too early to really see the spell's true effect. Lucy did hear the explosions and wonder what all the noise was about, though.

Speaking of the book, Lucy remembered the pink envelope that Karen had given her. The envelope seemed to be addressed to Lucy, and she had folded it neatly into the left pocket of her pink pajama pants. She looked curious while pulling it out, wondering what was inside of it, and Lucy thought that it had something to do with the blue book.

She slowly opened the envelope, hoping a bomb of some kind hadn't been planted inside of it, and Lucy surprisingly found a letter within the envelope. It had been written in the same strange blue text that was in Lucy's spell book, and there was only one line of words on this letter. Quite strange to receive a book with an almost forgotten message, right?

_"Please know this, new book master. The spells you wield shall require feelings of emotion for them to be used, or they won't come out." _Lucy silently read to herself with her brown eyes narrowed at this rule of using the blue spell book.

* * *

**Meanwhile...**

Sting and Rogue had finished a job in the nearby town of Nimbasa, and they were heading back to the guild after getting 90,000 jewels from stopping some mediocre bandits. Well, they were mediocre in Sting's eyes. He had taken them all down with Holy Ray, and the girls in that town were fainting when they saw his grin of confidence and his beautiful blue eyes.

The girls in this region of Fiore had been falling head over heels for Sting, mostly because of his great charisma skills, and his skills with White Dragon Slayer Magic had even allowed him to make his teeth completely white to make any woman be impressed with him. The mages in Castelia Town always got discounts in stores too, since they were so popular.

This town was located near the ocean and it led to a desert route that was leading to a town up ahead, and there was an eastern path leading out of the town towards the train station. This town also had a harbor, and the town's ground was paved smoothly in brick and cobblestone. The stores and cafés really did look extravagant, and the town's houses looked pretty great as well.

It really was the ideal place for people to move to, and the guild was right in the town's center for no one to even miss it. Sting and Rogue were respectively eating a slice of cherry cake and sipping a cup of hot chocolate while they were outside of the café at a white patio table with their Exceeds known as Lector and Frosch, currently all looking pleased at another job being done successfully.

"Man, the bandits these days are really getting to be a bunch of halfwits. I took all those guys down with one move, and the girls loved me like they always do. Around here, I'm the best mage ever." Sting boasted while looking arrogant, holding the plate of cake in his left hand while putting his feet on the table like he was the strongest guy in Fiore.

"Don't get too full of yourself, Sting. After all, you haven't fought everyone around the world. You may be strong, but underestimating an opponent is usually how people manage to beat you down." Rogue responded with a calm facial expression, folding his arms while sighing a bit.

"Oh, please. Losing against Natsu last year was a one-time thing for us, man. This year, things will be different. I have gotten strong, Rogue, and I can definitely show off my new move that's-" Sting responded in a cocky manner while smirking, before his speech was comically censored by the loud foghorn of the S.S. Aqua signaling that the ship had arrived in Castelia.

Sting was about to really curse at that ship for interrupting his prideful story about his strong new moves, but then his nose caught sight of something that seemed eerily familiar. It was the scent of strawberries and vanilla, a sweet scent that could only come from a girl, and Sting could also smell some unusually strong magic. He wondered if it had anything to do with the explosions that people were gossiping about while the dragon slayers had been on a job, claiming the noise came from the town of Magnolia.

Thinking that Natsu must've been showing off in Magnolia and now wanted to come here for a good fight, Sting ran towards the Oceanfront Road where all five piers could be seen. He kept smelling that girl's scent in the air near the Liberty Pier, which was the shortest pier of them all, and Sting wondered if Natsu was hiding behind a feminine scent for a great disguise. Sting ran down towards that pier, and he planned to hit Natsu with a surprise attack when he exited the S.S. Aqua.

* * *

The boat came to a complete stop, and the door opened to let out a seemingly familiar girl with blonde hair and brown eyes. She was pulling a wheeled black suitcase behind her by the handle, and she had a happy smile on her face while looking up at the large skyscrapers of Castelia Town. Her brown eyes twinkled from catching sight of the cafés and restaurants on one street, and Lucy could see an entire line of fashion stores on an adjacent streets.

She was passed by many people who appeared to be businessmen carrying black briefcases, as well as musicians carrying their various instruments. Several painters also walked by her without even trying to help her out with where everything was located, making her wonder who in the world she could ask for help in what seemed like a pretty big city.

Suddenly, Lucy found herself having to dodge a white laser beam that came her way and she looked pretty astounded that she was now getting attacked. Were the robbers in this city seriously trying to strike her in broad daylight? Lucy realized that the white light seemed familiar somehow, but she couldn't quite put the type of magic to a face.

"Hey, Blondie! Tell Natsu to get off that ship right now, and I don't care if he has motion sickness!" Sting told her with an arrogant look on his face, cracking his knuckles like he was ready for a fight.

At that moment, Lucy's brown eyes widened in shock from hearing that overconfident voice. It belonged to Sting Eucliffe, the White Dragon Slayer and guild master of the Sabertooth guild, and Lucy wasn't exactly understanding his command. She had come to Castelia by herself for a relaxing vacation, and she certainly didn't want Natsu around her right now.

"I came here on vacation to get away from that dense jerk, and don't call me Blondie! You're blond, too! My name is Lucy Heartfilia!" She replied loudly with a somewhat annoyed facial expression while walking towards Sting.

Sting covered his ears to block out the sound of Lucy's loud voice, and he clearly got the message. Natsu was definitely not with Lucy, and she was only here for a vacation and to handle a job that needed to be taken care of. Sting could see how she looked annoyed by him, and he smirked a bit while not wanting to get on a woman's bad side like he had once done with Minerva.

"Well, today is your lucky day to be vacationing. I'm bored right now, so I can show you around and help you out with anything you need as an apology. Remember, Lucy. The great Sting Eucliffe never fails in negotiation." He replied calmly, not letting her refuse his apology and chance to get recognition from a girl in Fairy Tail.

While Lucy told Sting about the job she had to do in the Castelia Sewers, cringing at the very thought of going into a place filled with putrid sewage, the blue book in her right hand began to emit a cerulean glow to sneakily assure her that she would really have nothing to worry about with Sting and a little new technique at her side.

* * *

**How was the 2nd chapter? Did you like it? Lucy has left Magnolia to handle a job, and she now has a blue book of spells with her. My OC Karen will have a role in this story, and you'll see what plan she's talking about as the story progresses. Lucy has met Sting, and he has agreed to help her on the job she took. What will happen, though? Standby for the update!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does. This story was made for fun, and not for cash. (How unfortunate.)**

* * *

**Chapter 3: The Second Spell**

* * *

Sting had taken Lucy down a manhole in the town of Castelia to help her with this job of taking down a gang of criminals who used Poison Magic, and the sewers unsurprisingly had a very putrid smell. The brown water certainly looked murky and highly unsafe to drink, and there was also purple gunk on the walls. Seriously, though, couldn't the bandits pick a less disgusting place to use as their hideout?

The white dragon slayer had made light surround his hands to not make things dark for himself and Lucy, but he could see the blonde mage from Fairy Tail looking nervous while she walked beside him. Lucy was trembling a bit while still being in her pink pajamas, and she was more scared of the rats that scurried by quickly than being scared of the bandits.

Lucy hoped that this job could be finished rather quickly, since she did not like the foul smell of the sewer or the sounds of rats squeaking. She had planned to summon Aquarius to destroy them all with a large vortex of water, but the Celestial Spirit would probably be very irritated with Lucy for making her gather up nasty water that contained so much sewage.

The concrete walkways thankfully had some wooden bridges connecting them together, so Lucy wouldn't really have to worry about slipping in the disgusting water and getting dirty. She kept chattering her teeth from some cold air flowing through the sewers, and Lucy honestly regretted taking this job. She was really lucky to have Sting helping her, though.

Sting whispered to her in a calm manner, looking stern while smelling something a bit different, "Someone else is down here, and they're right around this corner. Let's give these criminals a big surprise, Lucy."

The blonde mage responded as she smiled softly, "You're right, Sting. We'll be calm, quiet, and they won't even know we're-"

She was about to finish that sentence, but Lucy shuddered in fear at the feeling of something touching the back of her left leg. She felt something like an animal, and the loud squeak immediately informed her that it was a rat. Lucy screamed in fear from having this vermin touch her, and she panicked while using the Aqua Ball to send it into the water where it belonged.

Sting felt like facepalming himself from hearing Lucy's screams, especially since they caused the bandits to wonder who else was down here and check out the noise. Sting narrowed his blue eyes while seeing that these bandits wore black pirate hats with a white 'X' on each of them, and they also had black masks over their mouths while they wore black vests and wore grey pants with black leather boots to match.

When the eight bandits ran towards Sting, they threw small purple balls at his feet. He thought that this was some kind of mediocre trick, but they immediately exploded and trapped him in a large purple cloud of poisonous gas. Sting held his breath through his mouth and nose, not wanting to inhale any of the toxic fumes, and the bandits were laughing while hitting him with all sorts of sneaky punches and kicks.

Lucy knew eight against one was unfair, and she suddenly noticed a blue blast of energy transpiring in the water behind her. That must've been the effect of Aqua Ball from when she hit the rat, and Lucy had realization in her cocoa brown eyes from understanding that this spell took a few seconds to show its true effect. She had to help Sting, and Lucy knew just how to do it.

She used the Aqua Ball spell on the purple smoke that was giving Sting's enemies an unfair advantage against him, and Lucy waited a few seconds for a miniature blue blast to occur and blow all the smoke away. Three of the bandits were caught off guard by this attack, but Lucy hit them three times each with the Aqua Ball attack for fighting dirty against Sting.

"Forget about the loud dragon slayer who boasts about his success from above, boys! Take out the girl!" The sole female bandit with red hair commanded in a stern tone, obviously being the ringleader while not caring about the blasts that were decimating three of her teammates.

The remaining four male bandits used their Poison Magic to shoot a copious amount of purple needles from their hands, and the projectiles headed straight for Lucy. The female bandit lowered her black mask and smirked evilly, knowing those poison needles would turn into long rapiers that would go right through Lucy to finish her off, but Lucy's blue spell book suddenly began to radiate with a cerulean glow!

She wasted no time opening up the book, and Lucy's brown eyes widened in shock from seeing that the next two lines on the first page were readable in blue text. This meant that a new spell had been written, and it was known as Imprisoning Bubble. In an instant, a large blue bubble appeared in front of Lucy and it had steam coming out of it. Lucy placed her hand near the bubble, feeling heat emanating from it, and she wondered what would happen.

The poisonous needles all made contact with the bubble, and they were quickly destroyed when they went inside of it. Implosions seemed to be occurring from inside the bubble, each implosion becoming more powerful than the last, and there had been 128 implosions. That made Lucy see that the Water Magic she had was requiring her to use the spells in succession for great effects, and she smiled with a look of confidence while knowing she could comply with the rules of her spells.

Her bubble of scalding water glowed brightly before bursting in a massive blue blast of energy that obliterated part of the Castelia Sewers, and the scalding water created a large wave that burned and slammed down on the female bandit and her friends while sending them down into the ocean near the piers of the town. The rest of the water carried Sting and Lucy over to a nearby ladder, and both of the mages were wet while climbing the rungs up to the surface for some fresh air.

* * *

Lucy whined a bit while sadly looking down at her drenched pink pajamas and having displeasure in her brown eyes from smelling like the sewer, "We got the job done, but I smell so bad! That job was totally not good at all, Sting!"

The white dragon slayer responded with an impressed look on his face, his charming blue eyes twinkling, "Man, that was awesome! Lucy, you pretty much got the job finished with those two radical spells!"

While she thanked him for his praise, Lucy noticed that a golden bag of money had appeared right beside her. Its heaviness certainly had the weight of 800,000 jewels, but the client was nowhere to be found. Lucy wondered if they were a shy person, but she now had some money for herself on the vacation that she was currently on.

Speaking of money, an important thought made its way into Lucy's mind. If she was on vacation, where exactly did she plan on staying in Castelia Town? The hotels probably weren't even cheap with their prices for staying a few nights, and even the room service fees would probably be expensive. She needed a place to stay, but where could she go?

She didn't even know her way around a large town like this, and Lucy definitely hadn't thought things through before she left Magnolia. It was smarter to go on vacation after having a place to stay, and Lucy knew that her rent wasn't even due until the end of the month. She could still go back to her apartment for the time being, right?

Of course, going back to Magnolia would also mean that Lucy would be running into Natsu and Lisanna more often. She didn't want them rubbing their love in her face, and seeing Natsu kiss the white-haired mage would just break Lucy's heart even more. She had lost him to another woman, the fire dragon slayer's affections being pointed elsewhere, and Lucy looked utterly miffed.

"Just imagining them together makes my emotions go all over the place! He nonchalantly kicked me off the team, everyone pays attention to her, and I just want time away from my broken heart!" Lucy shouted aloud with an irritated facial expression while her cocoa brown eyes shifted from feelings of frustration towards Lisanna to the despairing sadness of losing Natsu.

Sting asked her while looking curious, "Are you talking about Natsu? What exactly happened between you two?"

Lucy knew that it wasn't good to keep things bottled up and reserved to herself, but her feelings were making tears leak out of her eyes while sobs began to wrack her body. The blonde mage looked incredibly saddened from being replaced by Lisanna, thrown away like she was of no use to any team at all, and Lucy tried wiping her tears away before looking at Sting.

"Natsu kicked me off of his team because I wasn't strong enough, and I really had high hopes on loving him! However, he sent me crashing down into rejection and replaced me with Lisanna! That's why I want to get stronger, to show him that I'm not weak!" Lucy explained while tears ran down her cheeks before she fell to her knees with her hands over her eyes.

Sting looked a bit panicky right now, having never really been in the position of comforting a crying woman, and he wished that Rogue was here with him right now to help him handle the situation. Sting had always comforted Yukino when she was sad about not doing as well as she hoped to do on some jobs, but he had never handled a woman who was suffering from rejection and heartbreak. However, the white dragon knew that he had to apologize to Lucy for his rude behavior earlier and try to comfort her in one way or another.

He told her in a calm tone while smiling slightly, "You shouldn't let his rudeness get in the way of your happiness, Lucy. You shouldn't focus on proving anything to him because the best opinion of yourself comes from you. When you prove something to yourself, that will make you see that you've gotten stronger."

Lucy wiped away her tears as she heard Sting's words, and she was even more surprised when she saw him activate White Drive. In a few seconds, as he put his left hand on her right shoulder, Lucy noticed that she and Sting weren't smelling bad from the sewer anymore. He had said in his match with Natsu and Gajeel that the light of the White Dragon purifies all things, thus including a person's smell. (I know that's not a canon ability of White Drive, but just go along with it.)

She was a bit shocked to find some comfort from a member of the Sabertooth guild, but Lucy knew that she couldn't judge them all in the same light because of what Minerva had done in last year's Grand Magic Games. Sting may have been a pretty arrogant person, but his confidence could lift up a person's spirits when it was necessary.

"Thank you, Sting. You really know how to cheer someone up, and I feel better now." Lucy replied with a small smile on her face, now feeling happier from the white dragon slayer's kind words.

He grinned a bit in a cocky manner, knowing he was awesome enough to handle anyone's problems, and a great idea made its way into his head. If Lucy wanted to become much stronger while being away from Natsu, he could be the one to train her. Sting had been told by many mages that he was an excellent guild master of Sabertooth, and how could he not be an excellent teacher when it came to magic?

"All right, Lucy. Starting tomorrow, I am going to train you and help you become much stronger. In the meantime, you definitely need to go back to Magnolia and rest a bit. Spells are similar to Celestial Spirits, and chain spells take up a lot of magical power." Sting informed her while posing victoriously, grinning with confidence as his blue eyes looked quite charming.

From hearing those words, Lucy's cocoa brown eyes were filled with happiness. She was going to not only become stronger, but be trained by the rival of Natsu Dragneel? She wanted to become stronger, aspiring to become much more powerful than ever before, and Lucy also believed in the powers of her blue spell book. She believed that her Water Magic could improve, making her twice as strong, and Lucy gave Sting a look of confidence that told him she would work hard and not let him down.

While Sting walked towards the farthest left street with Lucy to get her home on the ship and back to her unattended luggage, neither of them noticed that the blue book was pulsating with a bright glow once again. The cerulean blue shining occurred not once, but twice in those few moments. Was Lucy's belief of having the ability to succeed causing the book to react with her positive attitude?

Sting and Lucy also walked off a little too early before they could see Karen emerge from the shadow of a building. She had actually been the one to get that bag of 800,000 jewels from the shadows by using Shadow-Make Magic, a type of Molding Magic, and she had certainly heard the massive blast that transpired from Lucy's second spell.

_"That second spell made quite a ruckus, but the girl clearly does have the magical power to use it and not collapse from exhaustion. However, she must develop and become even stronger. After all, that is the only way for my master to truly be alive. If she's going back to Magnolia, it's time to do some research." _Karen thought to herself with a dark grin, before sinking into the building's shadow to move through the darkness once more.

* * *

**Meanwhile, at Fairy Tail...**

Erza and Gray kept pacing back and forth around the table where Team Natsu was located, hoping they could apologize to Lucy for Natsu's behavior yesterday, and they both sternly glared at the guild's closed entrance doors while waiting for Lucy to show her face. She normally arrived at 7:00 a.m. sharp, and the time was now 7:10. What could Lucy be doing?

Erza honestly thought that Lucy wouldn't even want to be at the guild today, especially after the way that Natsu had crushed her heart in such a dense way, and the scarlet-haired mage knew he was bad at handling situations. Lucy was probably sulking about how she had lost her chance with Natsu, and she probably would just want to ignore him.

Lisanna felt bad about the heartbreak that Lucy was going through, and she looked a bit hopeful about Lucy walking through Fairy Tail's entrance doors. This way, Lisanna could give her an adequate apology for how Natsu had kicked her off the team. She didn't want the blonde mage to be hurt and saddened, since they were part of the same guild.

Natsu asked his girlfriend with a cheerful grin while he giggled, "Lisanna, do you want to go on a job with me and look like the happiest couple ever?"

The white-haired mage responded while frowning, hoping Natsu actually paid attention to the current situation, "Let's just wait for Lucy to arrive and then we'll go out somewhere."

The fire dragon slayer didn't know why his teammates were worried about someone who wasn't exactly up to par with their fighting skills, and Natsu really cared more for his girlfriend. He didn't know why she was worried about Lucy being upset with Natsu choosing Lisana over her, and he really didn't know much about love triangles or relationships.

Natsu didn't really care if Lucy was sleeping late or something to help herself ease her soul and pick up the pieces of her heart, but he really did care that his team was suddenly giving her so much attention instead of taking a job from the request board. They really did see Lucy as one of their nakama, not just judging her by her strength, but Natsu really couldn't see that.

However, as he looked over at the request board, Natsu thought his eyes were playing tricks on him. A woman with silvery-blue hair came out of a shadow and unpinned a flyer from the request board, before sinking down into the shadow of a nearby table with a cunning look on her face. What in the world was she trying to do?

"Get back here, bitch!" Natsu shouted loudly to the thief, right as Erza was walking towards the guild's front doors to go check on Lucy at her apartment.

She turned around and asked Natsu with a stern facial expression, "I'm sorry, what did you call me?!"

Natsu looked scared of feeling Erza's wrath once again, not wanting to get beat up when he wasn't fighting with Gray, and the fire dragon slayer pointed at the table where he saw Karen disappear into the darkness with a job request like she owned the Fairy Tail guild or something. She didn't even care that anyone saw her, and Natsu stammered nervously while pointing at the table. However, when Erza ran over there to check it out, she moved the table aside to find nothing.

* * *

**How was the 3rd chapter? Sorry if this chapter wasn't long enough, but the StiCy is getting started. I don't want to reveal too many details early on, so standby for the update!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does. This story was made for fun, and not for cash. (How unfortunate.)**

* * *

**Chapter 4: Calm, Cute, and Icy Blue**

* * *

The following day, Lucy arrived at the guild at 8:00 am to get a head start on her day. A nice smile was on her face, since she knew that Sting would be helping her train today. Lucy remembered how Sting had comforted her when she broke down and told him about how Natsu kicked her off of the team and replaced her with Lisanna, and she was glad to have a friend who was a good listener.

Her brown eyes scanned the request board that was filled with jobs, and she was looking for something in an area of the badlands or at least close to it. A rocky area like that was perfect for some real training to be done, and Lucy needed to do it. Something caught her eye, and Lucy grabbed the flyer sitting by itself at the bottom-left corner of the request board.

This job surprisingly wasn't in the badlands, but it was surprisingly located in a place known as the Snowpoint Temple. This temple was obviously located in the icy region of Fiore, the cold lands with snow and blizzards, and Lucy felt a little bit cold from just thinking about it. Even if Sting found that place to be acceptable, what would the job be like and what would the reward be like?

Lucy thought to herself in a shocked manner while her brown eyes scanned the flyer, _"Not only would this be enough to pay my rent for a few more months, but I can definitely share the reward with Sting! He's my new friend, after all. I just hope that none of my spells make me look bad on this first mission with someone from Sabertooth."_

While she unknowingly blushed a light shade of pink at the thought of watching Sting destroy huge pillars of ice, Lucy moved a few inches over to the window to check her appearance and make sure that she looked good today. Her hair was tied in a side ponytail on the right side with a green ribbon, and she wore a green vest top and a matching green skirt. The green vest sported a collar and tie that reached only to her mid-chest, and aside from a light green cloth band clasped above her navel, her belly and the under-inside portion of her breasts were exposed. She wore green running shoes, just in case a rockslide would possibly occur. Lucy also had a green bow on the left side of her head as well. Since this job did have lots of reward money, which was green, it wouldn't hurt to dress for success.

As Lucy looked up at the clock on the wall, she noticed that it was only 8:15 am right now. It wouldn't hurt to get to the meeting point early enough to talk to Sting and get to know him, right? They only became acquainted yesterday, and he probably wanted Lucy to tell him things about herself, too. Trust was important not only in friendships, but on jobs as well.

"Hey, you weakling! I've been waiting for you to step aside already, and I need to pick a good job for my team! Now get out of the way, Lucy!" Natsu yelled harshly from behind Lucy, as he proceeded to grab her arm from behind and push her down on to the floor.

Before Lucy could even get up or retaliate with one of her two spells of Water Magic, Gray came running from the left side of the guildhall and gave Natsu a freezing punch to the face while an icy blue aura surrounded his left fist. He saw what Natsu had done, and the ice mage didn't like how the fire dragon slayer was treating Lucy so badly because she was weaker than him.

The two boys began to quarrel once again like they did on an almost-daily basis, until Erza stopped them when she looked annoyed and bashed their heads together. They were both frightened of her, and Lucy looked a bit stern while not even wanting an apology from Natsu. He was a dense jerk who cared so much for Lisanna, and the fire dragon slayer obviously didn't value other women.

Not wanting to deal with anymore drama from the guy that she used to like, Lucy narrowed her brown eyes and looked up at the clock. The time was currently 8:23 in the morning, and Sting would be waiting at the meeting point until 9:00 when the first ship left the harbor. There were no trains leading to Snowpoint Town, a town near the icy temple, and it could only be accessed by crossing the cold seas.

The blonde mage ran out of Fairy Tail's entrance doors, right when Lisanna had just caught sight of her, and Lucy ran down to the harbor where the S.S. Aqua was located. She didn't know that Lisanna wanted to apologize for Natsu's behavior and be on good terms with her, but Lucy didn't exactly trust her. Lisanna could apologize, but Natsu would probably twist the situation into something unpleasant.

"Have an Aqua Ball, you jerk!" She shouted fiercely while giving him a glare, as she fired the blue ball of Water Magic at Natsu.

She hastily ran down the guild's stairs to go meet up with Sting, wanting to start the job already, and Lucy didn't even care that Natsu made a flame engulf his fist while he had blocked her attack with his right fist. Unfortunately for him, the real effect of Lucy's spell was not being like a water balloon. The miniature blue blast of energy surrounded his fist, damaging it, and Natsu yelped in pain. He was lucky that she didn't successively use that spell, honestly.

* * *

**15 minutes later…**

Lucy arrived at the S.S. Aqua for its voyage that was scheduled to end in the cold area of Shiver Town, and she saw Sting standing next to the white ship with his arms folded and a confident smirk on his face. When he saw what she was wearing, he smiled nicely and examined her from head to toe for a few minutes. Lucy was quite fashionable, and also very appealing.

"Nice outfit, Lucy. I guess that sexy style is a good reason for you not getting here a little bit sooner like I expected." Sting told her in a calm tone, as he still smiled and heard her panting from running all the way from the guild.

"I would've been here earlier, but Natsu was being rude to me just because he cares for his angelic little Lisanna. Anyway, enough about him. Here's the flyer, Sting." Lucy explained calmly while handing the flyer to the white dragon slayer, catching her breath while she looked somewhat exhausted.

Apparently, this job simply involved using some spells to break a seal that was in the temple. This magic seal could only be broken by strong amounts of magical power, obviously protecting something of importance, and the job also described the lock to truly be made from the coldest ice in Fiore. Even the hottest flames from a volcano couldn't break the ice, surprisingly.

While Sting's blue eyes scanned the flyer, he noticed that the reward was 600,000 jewels and the reward's description also had a plus sign and a question mark next to it. Would there be some added reward for doing something that didn't involve fighting bad guys at all, and what would this reward be? It certainly made Sting curious about this job, and he hoped that it wasn't a trap.

Sting handed the flyer back to Lucy before they got on the ship, and the brown-eyed girl really wondered if going on this job would make her become much stronger. She had been curious about the blue book that she clutched tightly in her right arm, wondering if she would gain any new spells on her first job with Sting, and Lucy entered on to the ship with him.

Since Lucy had still possessed the card key she used to enter the room at the end of the hallway on her voyage to Castelia Town, it was accepted once again on her and Sting's quest to the cold town of Snowpoint. Lucy looked inside the room to see it clean and shiny like before with a fully stocked food cart of breakfast items, and she smiled with delight.

However, while she was happy, Sting looked like he wanted to puke because of his motion sickness. He couldn't move at all, disliking the movements of the ship, and Lucy wondered if there was a spell in her book that could help him. Her blue book was still pulsating with a cerulean blue glow, and Lucy opened it up to find that two new spells had been written. Instead of one, why had two appeared? Would Lucy need one now, but save the other one for later?

The blonde girl shouted with strong emotions in her voice, determination in her cocoa brown eyes to help her friend, "I call upon thee, the third spell! Cerulean Charm!"

This spell made a small bubble of water rise up from the ocean, and it floated in through the porthole of the cabin where Sting and Lucy were located. The bubble of water surprised Sting while his face was green with motion sickness, wondering what the exact purpose of this spell was, and he looked a bit startled to see the bubble floated directly towards him. What was it going to do?

When the bubble made the slightest amount of contact with his mouth, it softly popped and made Lucy wonder what this spell was for. Suddenly, a cerulean blue aura surrounded Sting's body and the white dragon slayer began to feel perfectly fine like he did before going on to the ship. He also felt a lot more durable than before, like water that seemed to be like solid steel when someone jumped into it from a high altitude, and he also felt more powerful.

Lucy gasped in awe at the discovery of an enhancement and healing spell being in the blue book, having its own three lines in blue text on the second page, and she also realized that this spell only worked with some kind of water around. Conditional spells could be useful, right? She also noticed that Sting wasn't feeling any bad effects from the bubble emerging out of salt water, and this spell must've purified the water to make it consumable for Lucy and her allies.

"Whoa, you totally got me to not feel motion sick anymore. Thanks, Lucy. This will really help me with the voyage to Snowpoint Town, and I feel much more durable than before. That's a pretty cool spell you've got there." Sting told her in a calm while having a cocky smirk on his face.

Lucy thanked Sting for his praise, really glad that her third spell made him feel better, and she had a happy smile on her face as she saw his grin of confidence. Something about Sting made her blush a light shade of pink, whether it be his attitude or his abdominals, and Lucy couldn't resist looking into his charming blue eyes that contained slits in them.

She then came back to reality, though, and realized that they were only on a job together as friends. She didn't know if Sting was interested in someone else or if he was even looking to date anyone right now, and Lucy was still recovering from the heartbreak that Natsu had caused her to have. Rushing into a new relationship would feel more like payback instead of love, and Lucy desired the latter more than the former.

While Lucy went over to the food cart and got a plate of blueberry pancakes to eat with whip cream elegantly swirled on top of the stack, cold air began to flow in through the porthole of the cabin. Sting noticed ice floes drifting in the ocean near the ship, and the eerie calmness of these waters definitely made them be seen as the cold seas. This meant that the blonde mages would be arriving in Snowpoint Town soon, and Lucy hurriedly ate her breakfast.

* * *

When the ship arrived in the harbor of Snowpoint Town, Lucy and Sting immediately exited the S.S. Aqua and stepped on to the snow-covered ground. Snowflakes were falling from the grey sky above the town, and many of the townspeople were dressed in winter clothing. Merchant shops were even selling warm chocolate chip cookies and cups of hot chocolate to make easy profits, too.

Lucy shivered a bit while her teeth chattered, having not dressed appropriately for the weather, and she looked somewhat surprised when Sting took her left hand in his right hand. A white aura of warm holy light engulfed his right hand, making Lucy feel warmth while her hand touched his, and Sting thought that it was the least he could do for someone who effaced his motion sickness on a boat.

The two blondes walked up a small staircase to see that the temple was in the back of the town, surrounded by trees that were covered in snow, but there were two guards in front of the temple's entrance. They obviously wouldn't let any random person enter the temple, since they looked extremely stern and strong, and Sting knew there was one way to make them leave their post.

When they looked over at the area near the ship, Sting acted like him and Lucy were friendly tourists that smiled and pointed at the wonderful sights of Snowpoint Town. The white dragon slayer built a little snowman to supposedly impress Lucy, and the brown-eyed girl could understand his sneaky plan. She used the Aqua Ball spell on a metal pole that a little girl was about to lick out of curiosity, and the seemingly simple water balloon attack made her run away in fear. Lucy and Sting used this chance to quickly run to some trees near the temple, and they waited for their chance.

At the sound of Lucy's Aqua Ball making its blast, the two guards quickly ran towards the noise to check it out. This gave Sting and Lucy enough time to run inside the temple, getting past security, and they saw nothing in the icy room. There were stairs going down to a lower floor in the temple, however, and Sting went downstairs while Lucy followed him. The temperature in this place was really cold, but the light from Sting's hand had heat in it that didn't leave his body or Lucy's.

"Sting, there are no stairs in this room. How do we even find what we're looking for when there's nowhere to-" Lucy told him with a puzzled facial expression while not looking where she was walking, before unknowingly slipping and sliding on the icy tiled floor.

She lost her balance, falling in between the four tiles that were in the center of this room, and Lucy gasped fearfully when the ice around her began to suddenly have cracks in it. Was all her weight causing the icy floor to give way like this, or had her clumsiness triggered a secret or trap of some kind. Lucy fell through the floor, screaming in shock, and Sting looked concerned while purposely slipping towards the hole to follow his friend.

Lucy landed in another room of the temple, presumably the bottom room, and she rubbed her sore bottom while wincing in pain. She looked around to see four icicles in the corners of this room, and there was an icy white lock on the wall in front of her. It obviously didn't have a secret in the wall, since there was no indication of a door being there, but Lucy narrowed her brown eyes while feeling something strange emanating from this lock.

Upon seeing four large icicles in this room, Lucy had the strange idea to use the fourth spell in her blue spell book. However, a strange sensation also told her to first use the Aqua Ball spell. She threw four blue spheres of Water Magic at the lock, seeing them burst like small water balloons, and now Lucy had to use the fourth spell. What would this one be like?

She opened the book to see that the words of the fourth spell were pulsating with a sapphire blue glow, and this spell was known as Scalding Shot. It caused Lucy to unleash a scalding and spiraling beam of blue water from her mouth, and the water was obviously hot by the fact that steam was surrounding it. Lucy was pushed backwards by her attack, and something great began to transpire.

Scalding Shot's power increased by four times its primary amount when it touched the lock, and the spell had also grown four times its original size while moving four times as fast. The chain power of the Aqua Balls obviously assisted with other spells, and a massive blue blast of energy occurred after a single moment! Lucy could hear the icy lock breaking, the walls crumbling, and she didn't notice that Sting finally made his way down here.

"What the heck was that power now, Lucy? Did you break the lock?" He curiously asked while the white smoke was lingering, as the walls continued to crumble and reveal something.

This temple had been hiding a strange blue aura that was floating behind the wall, mostly likely stored away for people to not use its powers for evil, and Lucy looked surprised to see the cerulean blue aura enter her book like it belonged there. The spell book shined with blue light once more, and more of the text on its pages became blue for Lucy to read it.

Much to her surprise, and to Sting's amazement, it looked like four new spells had appeared! However, the blue text informed Lucy that these spells couldn't be used right now. She still needed to grow a bit before using these spells of Water Magic, and Lucy also looked astounded to see a bag of 600,000 jewels emerge from the shadow of an icicle.

"We did it, Sting! Our first job together was a great success, and I think that I've gotten a bit stronger from this!" Lucy told him with a happy smile on her face, before hugging him tightly and giggling with joy.

Sting hugged back, and he took a sniff of Lucy to enjoy her wonderful scent of strawberries and vanilla. She smelled so nice and sweet, just like her attitude, and Sting liked how her cocoa brown eyes seemed so innocent and pure. She was a really great partner for anyone to have around, making him not understand how Natsu could deem her as weak.

Speaking of not being weak, the white dragon slayer decided that the cold lake near Snowpoint Town was the perfect place for Lucy to use her Water Magic. She could spend her time training there with him, and she would certainly much stronger. He immediately informed Lucy of this decision, and she seemed quite eager to train and gain some strength.

_"Man, this chick is so awesome. She's so strong, and Lucy is pretty cute. Wait, did I just say she's cute? Well, she does look a little bit attractive." _Sting thought to himself while they finished their hug, before getting the bag of money for Lucy and finishing up this little adventure.

As Lucy purposely used the Aqua Ball spell on the ground to have a blast propel them upward to the upper floor of the temple, she and Sting didn't notice that Karen had appeared from the shadow of an icicle. She had seen the new powers inside of Lucy's book, seeing the four spells take up more pages, and Karen knew that Lucy was unlocking her master's spells.

_"One of the seals is finally broken, and those spells will create something delightful to see. Master, do you feel your revival approaching? A part of you will soon be alive, and the rest will eventually follow." _Karen thought to herself while smiling a bit, before vanishing into the shadows once more.

* * *

**-One month timeskip-**

Sting and Lucy had gone on jobs together for a while now, mostly as some training for Lucy to help her skills reach higher levels, and the two blondes had also been sharing the impressive amounts of money that they received from their jobs. Lucy had not forgotten about her Celestial Spirits, summoning mainly Loke and Aquarius when the times called for their appearances, but Lucy could still only open two Zodiac Gates.

She had also been glad that her time with Sting was getting her away from the sight of Natsu getting cuddly with Lisanna, but Lucy did have to sometimes dodge a few arrows when Levy or Erza would ask her where she was or if she could handle taking such tough jobs by herself. Well, they had never known that she would be accompanied by someone from the rival guild of Fairy Tail.

Lucy was also beginning to see Sting as a great partner on jobs, since his White Dragon Slayer Magic came in handy whenever Lucy's Water Magic or Celestial Spirits proved to be ineffective against giant monsters and groups of bandits. Sting had a few new moves up his sleeve, but he couldn't use them as once. He informed Lucy that his situation with Caster Magic was similar to her dilemma with Holder Magic. The limit to her spells was not bottomless, and Sting's energy also had its limits.

They had been training at the icy lake near Snowpoint Town for a whole month now as well, and Lucy's physical and magical strength had grown. She could keep up with Sting in a long race to and all the way back from the long snowy route that led towards Snowpoint Town, she could hold a large snowball above her head for 80 minutes, and she could spar with Sting afterwards while hardly feeling tired.

Also, her four new spells of Water Magic had been ready for her to use after she decided to become strong enough for Sting to not protect her as much. The fifth spell made Lucy have the ability to create sharks out of water, and they would rocket off towards their target at high speeds before exploding on contact with it. This was a chain spell like the others, meaning it became more power if used successively, and Lucy named this spell Aqua Torpedo.

The sixth spell caused a small blue bubble of water to form inside Lucy's mouth, and she surprisingly swallowed it instead of spitting it out. When she cast the spell again, Lucy spat out a larger blue bubble that could create a large cerulean blue blast or make a large blue ball of sticky saliva immobilize its target when it hit something. The chain spell could even be used if Lucy bit the bubbles and cast the spell again, and she called it Cerulean Chew.

The seventh spell made Lucy have the power to create a blue teardrop-shaped shield to defend herself from projectiles, and the shield would turn the long-range attacks into water that went directly into Lucy's mouth. She felt more durable and powerful from the shield's ability, and it helped her spells grow stronger to strike enemies. The shield could also reflect attacks on Lucy's command, and freeze enemies. This spell was called Sapphire Shield, by the way.

Finally, the eighth spell allowed Lucy to create a large blue sphere of Water Magic in her hands, and she could shoot it at an enemy to create an enormous light blue blast of Water Magic. This attack could follow its opponents, as well as absorbing any attack sent at it, and its power would be exponentially increased with the effect of chain power. Lucy named this spell Azure Ace, too.

Today, Sting had Lucy meet him at a bakery shop in Magnolia to discuss something important with her. He had also asked her to bring the blue spell book with her, most likely realizing something about it, and Lucy wondered what Sting to talk about with her. She even planned to buy him a lot of cookies for being such a good partner on every job that they did together.

Lucy wore a pink blouse with a scarlet red neckline and trim, which was complimented by a red miniskirt. She also wore some ruby red boots to match. After all, she found it important to look her best for meetings of every kind. She had her blonde hair down, and Sting's jaw nearly dropped when Lucy sat across from him at the table. He didn't think she was cute. He thought she looked pretty hot.

"You look nice as always, Lucy. That's one of the things I like about us working together, and I bought us some cookies. You'll be the first girl to say that the great Sting Eucliffe treated you to some fine desserts." Sting told her with a cocky smirk on his face while giving her a thumbs-up.

Lucy replied nicely to him, as she giggled at his arrogance and took one of the chocolate chip cookies off of her plate, "You're always so confident about things, you know. I like how you stay calm and positive in most situations."

"It's never good to freak out, or you won't be able to focus and succeed. When you are perfectly calm, the situation will totally be in your control." He told her with a calm facial expression, before eating ten chocolate cookies at once.

"I'll keep that in mind, Sting. Why did you call me here, anyway?" Lucy asked him curiously while looking puzzled.

Was this just a meeting, or was this just Sting's way of setting up a date while being in his usual attire? He obviously had something to say to her, or he wouldn't have called her out here and given her the day off from training. What kind of idea did Sting have about the book, and would it be something really logical with a great effect included?

"We won't train near the icy lake anymore, starting tomorrow. I heard that books needing spells to be unlocked would reach their full potential not only with the book master's will, but also in the respective environment. I want to see what you can do with a different type of magic, and we'll be fighting a pretty dangerous enemy who's popular." He explained calmly while biting into another cookie, smiling a bit.

"You can't be serious, Sting! I know there are many wanted posters for her, but we can't go after someone like that! Her powers will destroy us, and I don't want to get badly hurt!" Lucy pleaded while her body trembled, her fear obviously revealing itself to Sting.

She immediately got up from the table, and decided to leave the bakery shop to go do something else. However, Sting gently grabbed her hand and watched her slowly turn around to face him. Lucy was about to yell in his face, but then something unexpected happened. Sting pulled her into a soft hug, causing Lucy to feel his warmth and his strong sense of trust.

"There's no need to worry, Lucy. I won't let you get hurt on this job, and I'll be right beside you. You're a mage of Fairy Tail, but you're a nakama of Sabertooth." Sting softly whispered into her ear while they continued to hug, and he put his arms around her waist.

Lucy could only feel her fear slowly dying down, as her body stopped trembling and her cheeks blushed a light shade of pink while she was returning the hug to Sting. She felt safe and warm with him right now, and Lucy let out a soft and happy sigh while looking into his enchanting blue eyes. They felt so hypnotic, drawing her in, and Lucy's heart began to beat joyfully.

* * *

**How was the 4th chapter? Did you like it? Lucy has learned a lot of Water Magic, but only half of the spells since it gets upgraded later on in the story. The StiCy is getting some momentum going as well, thankfully. Who will Lucy and Sting have to fight, and what type of magic shall come next? Standby for the update!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does. This story was made for fun, and not for cash. (How unfortunate.)**

* * *

**Chapter 5: Riding Wind On A Nice Night**

* * *

The next night, Lucy had been looking at jobs on the request board while the Fairy Tail guild was still partying on about Lisanna. She ignored the blaring music and laughter, focusing on her training with Sting, and he had instructed her to find a specific job request that involved taking down a powerful criminal who had been committing many heinous crimes.

This criminal was a woman, and she had been labeled as a terror in battles from the rumors swirling around. Anyone who had ever encountered her did not have the chance of escaping with their life intact, and her level of power was said to be pretty high. With only eight spells of Water Magic, especially since they were chain spells that required buildup, Lucy knew she and Sting couldn't handle a job like that.

She didn't know what Sting was thinking when he had brought up his plan about taking down this woman, but he probably wanted Sabertooth and himself to get some great recognition out of it. Sting's pride always made him think that he could handle anything, sometimes getting a little too overconfident, but Lucy had always been able to find herself giggling slightly or smiling at his determination.

Much to Lucy's surprise, however, her brown eyes looked up and down the request board to find absolutely nothing involving this woman. There wasn't a single flyer that talked about her, and that made the blonde mage wonder if this criminal had been captured already. Either way, it sure was a letdown for Lucy to not conveniently find the job that she was searching for. Wanting to ease the blow of that disappointment, Lucy went over to the bar for a drink.

She could see that Mirajane had a happy smile on her face while she was using a white rag to clean a brown wooden beer mug, mostly because she was looking over at a table where Natsu was tickling Lisanna to make the white-haired mage laugh, and Lucy really didn't feel like having any say on that subject. She wanted to move on with her life, meaning her heart had to sail away from Magnolia like she did on the S.S. Aqua.

"Hi, Mira. I'll have my usual sugary tea, please." Lucy told the barmaid while resting her head down on the counter and sighing in a depressed manner, as she took a seat on the far left bar stool.

"Coming right up, Lucy! You've been alone for weeks now, and I know what you need to get over Natsu! You need a boyfriend!" Mira replied happily, as she had been seeing Lucy being single for a while with nobody to show her some love and affection.

Lucy didn't want to move fast like that after only a month because she knew that if she did then she wouldn't truly be happy. If a couple had nothing but love, they would eventually get bored of it and things would come crashing down in the end. Starting a new relationship after only a month would be more like revenge, and not mostly romance. Lucy wanted to take things at a slow pace, and time would eventually send a decent guy her way. Just like with using one spell at a time and developing it in a slow and steady manner, passion took patience.

"Not right now, Mira. I'll just keep to myself, and wait for life to work things out. There's no need for me to rush, you know. I just have to take things one step at a time, and let my heart heal." Lucy replied calmly, as Mira handed her the cup of sugary tea, and she began to drink from the cup.

Looking back at the request board for a moment, Lucy's brown eyes noticed a job needing to be done in Castelia Town. She blinked her eyes twice to make sure she wasn't seeing things, and she blushed slightly when she realized her eyes weren't playing tricks on her. That's the town of business where the Sabertooth guild and Sting Eucliffe could be found, right?

Still, it was kind of late at night. Would Sting be ok with Lucy going all the way across the sea to visit him, instead of asking if he was ready to go find that criminal like he planned? The job could be good for both of them, though. Sting and Lucy had never really gotten to have a normal talk to know each other, and what's a better way than finding a place that's comfortable for both of them?

Lucy finished drinking her tea, and she got up from the barstool she sat on to check her appearance in the reflection of a nearby glass window. She was wearing a simple violet shirt and a lavender miniskirt to match. Her hair was in a side ponytail on the right side, and a purple bow was on the other side of her head. She looked quite dark for the night, don't you think?

She walked over to the request board to examine the flyer mentioning the job needing to be done in Castelia Town, sitting at the bottom-left corner of the request board by itself. Lucy unpinned the piece of paper from the board, and began to read the request. Would this task help Lucy get stronger, and would this job be just as impressive as catching someone who was presumed to be an S-Class criminal?

When her brown eyes carefully scanned the flyer, looking hopeful that this job wouldn't be too easy or too difficult, Lucy noticed that this job request had been dated to have been made earlier this morning. Clearly, this was just a recent problem that needed to be taken care of. Lucy did see this as a window of opportunity, however, and this job would definitely help her and Sting have an activity to do together.

Apparently, there had been a report about a criminal robbing the bank of Castelia and evading the cops. She was said to be a pretty dangerous vixen with quick speed, but that would be no problem for Lucy at all. The Aqua Ball spell could confuse the criminal while the blasts would stop her from running, and that would give Lucy the perfect chance to strike.

She couldn't wait to do this job, since it would allow her to see Sting, and Lucy happily giggled while having confidence in her brown eyes. She ran out of the guild with the flyer in her hands, blushing a light shade of pink, and she didn't even notice that she had accidentally tripped Natsu when he tried to get up from the table he sat at with Lisanna. Lucy could feel something good coming her way, and she was going to reach that reward.

* * *

Since the trains were inactive at this time of night, Lucy ran down to Magnolia's Harbor as fast as she could and smelled the salty air while getting on to the S.S. Aqua that always left for the town of Castelia at 10 o'clock at night. She had taken notice of her running speed increasing by a lot more than it was last month, due to her training with Sting, and Lucy definitely had to thank him in a great way for that.

She stayed in the same room that was now reserved for her, since she had now traveled enough times on the boat to be seen as a regular passenger, and Lucy enjoyed seeing the food cart restocked with dinner items now. There was steak, burgers, fish sticks, hot dogs, chicken tenders, a plate of spaghetti with meatballs, and there was also a plate with ten slices of cheese pizza on it. Quite the luxury treatment for a passenger, was it not?

While Lucy took the plate of pizza slices and placed it on the bed, she also thought about the spell book. Her eight spells of Water Magic were pretty powerful after they had been used in succession, and they could also help each other out like they had done back in the temple of Snowpoint Town. Lucy saw these spells as valuable, and they even powered up the water attacks of Aquarius when she had been summoned.

The blonde mage reached inside her brown purse to find a somewhat shocking surprise. Her cerulean blue spell book had turned emerald green, and it was now pulsating with an emerald green glow. Lucy opened up the book to see green beams of light shining from some of the pages, and the green text informed her that this was a new type of magic that had been given to her.

This was Wind Magic, a type of magic that had spells made from the air, and it could mainly be used for fast attacks. The aerial moves were also quite good, from what Lucy had seen in tournaments other than the Grand Magic Games, and Lucy wondered what this new Wind Magic would be like. Would the spells have added effects, and would they even be powerful?

She shouted with a confident facial expression, strength in her brown eyes while she looked at the porthole before turning her attention to the first two lines in green text, "I call upon thee, the first spell, Aerial Disc!"

This first spell of Wind Magic caused Lucy to shoot out three green buzz saw-like blades from her left hand, and they flew out of the porthole of her cabin. Her three projectiles sliced through a rock in the ocean, cutting it into three pieces, and three miniature emerald green blasts of energy transpired on the ocean water. The noise alerted some passengers, but the captain didn't care since the blasts hadn't been aimed at the S.S. Aqua.

She had tried using the other spells, but they wouldn't work for some reason. It was most likely that the spells were readable, but not ready for use yet. Aside from that letdown, Lucy was happy that she would get to see Sting. As she curiously looked at the pages with words in emerald green text, Lucy also noticed that there were unreadable words in pale green text. Those spells would have to be unlocked later on, and they would probably be powerful.

As Lucy prepared to close her spell book that was now emerald green, she gasped in slight surprise from seeing a white card fall out of the book and softly land on the floor. She picked it up to see that the words were written in the emerald green text of the strange language, a language that seemed different from the blue text, and her cocoa brown eyes scanned the card to slowly read the message.

_"The book master's creativity does not lie only in chain spells, but every type of magic can create various moves. Take advantage of this malleability." _Lucy read to herself in a calm manner, before smiling a bit at the advice from the emerald green book. Was it somehow sensing what she needed?

* * *

**45 minutes later…**

The ship had docked in the Castelia Harbor, and Lucy quickly disembarked. She stepped onto the dock, and looked at the tall skyscrapers behind her. Many people wearing business suits and carrying briefcases passed her by without saying a word, prompting Lucy to wonder if Sting actually did live in such a busy town like this. She also needed to find him, which would most likely be a problem in a large town like this one.

A wooden sign nearby told Lucy that this was known as Prime Pier, one of the four ocean piers in the town of Castelia. Lucy really needed directions to places in this town to start her search for Sting, and she also had to take care of a criminal here. As she drifted out of her thoughts, the sight of smoke coming from one of the dimly lit streets caught her attention. What was going on?

Lucy thought that it was just some robbers setting off a bomb to break into a bank, but that smoke came from Narrow Street where the cafes were located. She couldn't smell any burnt food, but Lucy's brown eyes widened in shock upon seeing a white blast of light fill the sky. That magic obviously belonged to Sting, and more explosions kept transpiring. As Lucy saw more white blasts occur from that street, she became concerned for her friend. Sting was probably fighting a horde of enemies, and he may have needed someone to back him up. Lucy ran all the way up to the Oceanfront Road, and went to the nearest left street.

She arrived the dimly lit street to find a crowd of people circled around something interesting, and Lucy pushed her way past a few artists and businessmen to see Sting panting heavily while he was facing off against a voluptuous woman who had a pink aura surrounding her hands. She wore a pink T-shirt with some light pink spandex shorts, and her high heels were pink as well. She didn't appear to have been hurt at all by Sting's attacks, and this woman giggled a bit before she spoke.

"Sweetie, you're the weakest dragon slayer that I've ever seen. It's quite sad that you can't land a hit on me, especially since you said you're the guild master of Sabertooth. My Psychic Magic can't be broken, and you are weak against the mighty Kamira Koruru." The woman told Sting with a derogatory look on her face, her green eyes filled with flirtatiousness while she prepared to attack.

Sting was in his Dragon Force mode with White Drive activated, but he couldn't even charge up Holy Ray fast enough before Kamira fired a pink beam of energy from her left hand and struck him directly with it. A pink explosion occurred, and Sting screamed in more pain as Kamira made more pink energy beams twist and levitate around him to deliver her strikes. Every explosion was music to her ears, and she laughed evilly.

The white dragon slayer responded in a frustrated manner, narrowing his blue eyes, "You haven't won this yet! This fight is not over at all, and I'm gonna take down a criminal like you! No one beats me, you got that?!"

Despite him being serious with those words, Sting looked a tad annoyed when Kamira began to laugh. She really doubted that he could beat her, since she had actually been using her Psychic Magic to make his attacks miss the entire time, but she did think that he was a bit cute. Kamira smirked seductively while walking towards Sting and putting on red lipstick, preparing to end this battle with a Kiss of Death while she now moved her hands in a psychic manner to restrict his movements as she made him float towards her to lessen the distance between them.

As she leaned in to deliver her deadly kiss, Kamira was suddenly struck in the stomach by what appeared to be a spinning green bird. It was actually Lucy's second spell known as Aerial Piercer, and this spell allowed Lucy to create green birds out of wind before commanding them to strike an opponent. The lone projectile sent Kamira flying backwards, before piercing in through her stomach and out through her back like a powerful sword. The green bird created an emerald green blast of energy when it hit the ground, and Kamira seemed peeved off while looking around to see who her attacker was.

Sting was now released from Kamira's magic, and he turned around to see an emerald green glow coming from a book of the same color. Lucy had obviously taken a job that involved handling the only real criminal in Castelia Town right now, and Sting quickly fixed his hair because he thought she came here for him. She had also unlocked Wind Magic now, making Sting feel quite proud.

Kamira told Lucy in a stern tone, looking irritated by the presence of the blonde girl, "Well, look what we have here. I didn't expect the cute dragon slayer to have a girlfriend. I suppose that I'll have to defeat you, too."

She fired a pink beam of Psychic Magic from her left hand, making it curve to hit Lucy from her right, but the blonde female narrowed her brown eyes and activated the third spell of Wind Magic. This move was known as Tornado Kick, and it simply caused Lucy's left foot to kick Kamira's attack into the air. The side effect of this attack was that it created a green tornado of wind that went straight up into the sky, and it exploded into a large emerald green blast of Wind Magic. That was most likely meant to be used on airborne foes, to be honest.

Lucy's spell book continued to glow with emerald green lights coming from the words on the pages, and she narrowed brown her eyes in a stern manner when Kamira growled angrily at the fact that someone was meddling with her plan of finishing off Sting. A pink aura surrounded her hands, and she ran towards Lucy to finish her off with a few powerful punches.

However, Lucy quickly activated the fourth spell of Wind Magic to end this battle. It was known as Cloudy Crush, and this move caused the five clouds in the sky to spiral around in the air above the battlefield. Nothing seemed to happen at first, but then everyone felt the powerful winds coming down on them. Kamira gasped in shock, as she was suddenly lifted into the air, and five green tornadoes formed around from the wind. Before she could even react, the tornadoes struck her simultaneously while creating an extremely large emerald green explosion in the sky.

The large spherical blast provided the perfect cover for Lucy to escape, and she didn't even notice that Karen emerged from the shadow of the blast with her reward money. Her heart was beating wildly, as she had ran down to Prime Pier and stopped to pant and catch her breath. Had she truly felt jealous now because a criminal thought Sting was cute and was about to share a kiss with him? Lucy put her hands over her eyes, and fell to her knees while crying softly. She had humiliated herself in front of Sting by going into overprotective mode, and she should've just let him handle it.

While she let tears go down her face, Lucy felt someone pat her shoulders gently. She slowly turned around to see Sting standing behind her, and he didn't look embarrassed that a girl stepped in to help him take down a criminal. He was actually proud that she was getting stronger, and Lucy had technically handled a big job by herself.

"Don't cry, Lucy. You have no reason to be upset because you just stepped in to save me. You sure acted like we were a couple, though. Hands off your man, huh?" Sting told her with a smile while chuckling a little.

"You've been there for me a lot, so I felt like I needed to be there for you. Sting, you saved me from loneliness. Not that you filled the void Natsu created in my heart, but you've been a good friend to me." Lucy told him while wiping away her tears and looking into Sting's eyes.

Something about his blue eyes was so appealing to Lucy. They were like a beautiful blue sea, and she felt like they were entrancing to her. She blushed a light shade of pink, and Lucy's heart palpitated wildly when she rested her head on Sting's shoulder. He really was a comforting guy, giving her support when she needed it, and Sting had really valued her as a teammate.

He ran his fingers through her hair for a few seconds, his nose taking in the scent of her strawberry vanilla shampoo. Sting sniffed her for a few more minutes, and he smiled while looking into her eyes that were brown like delicious chocolate. She was such a nice girl, wanting to be by the side of such a confident guy, and Sting really had to wonder how Natsu could kick her off the team without even knowing what her future had been holding for her.

The white dragon slayer and the stellar mage both looked into each other's eyes, smiling a bit, and then Lucy had to break their hug to go back home on the S.S. Aqua. She boarded the ship with happiness in her brown eyes, glad that a guy really valued her efforts, and Lucy waved goodbye to Sting before the white door rose up from the water to be closed. Lucy didn't see this as a night of separation, since she would get to see him on the next day.

* * *

**How was the 5th chapter? Did you like it? Sting and Lucy are building their chemistry, and our female protagonist now has Wind Magic! Sorry if four spells may seem a bit rushed, but there will be enemies in this story that can block even seven spells with ease. Lisanna and Natsu will get their parts in the next chapter, and Karen gives Lucy a little reward for reaching the 2nd type of magic. What is it, you ask? Standby for the update!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does. This story was made for fun, and not for cash. (How unfortunate.)**

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**Chapter 6: Chemistry, Cafe, and Kisses**

* * *

The next morning, Lucy had woken up to the sound of her alarm clock ringing on the desk near her bed and she shut it off. She had been dreaming about last night, remembering how great it had been to see Sting and assist him in that battle against Kamira, and Lucy felt really happy about the fact that he had comforted her when she thought that he didn't want her to fight his battle for him.

Her cocoa brown eyes were filled with happiness while she was laying in bed, remembering Sting's kind words, and she was so happy that she was becoming a stronger mage as well. Lucy still couldn't believe that she now had two types of magic from the weird spell book that she had received from Karen, and the blonde mage looked somewhat puzzled by the fact that she could clearly understand two olden languages that she had never seen before.

Lucy looked up at the ceiling with a happy smile on her face, before yawning and stretching her arms into the air. Today seemed like a beautiful day, since the sun was shining brightly in the clear blue sky, and Lucy was determined to become stronger than ever before. She wanted to do well for Sting, and he had always wanted to see her succeed on every job that they took together.

Seeing Sting's smirk in her mind made Lucy blush a light shade of pink, but she also knew that it would probably not be a good idea to tell the white dragon slayer about her little feelings for him. Sting might not be seeing her as anything more than a partner on jobs, and getting kicked off the team by Natsu had given Lucy more heartbreak than she could handle. Getting rejected twice certainly wouldn't be good, and it also wouldn't be wise to try dating a guy after only one month. Relationships took time, you know.

The blonde female didn't have any plans for the day, obviously waiting for Sting to show up, and Lucy took a slight sniff of the air to see that she was smelling like mint green perfume. She had a different smell on her, but how? No one else was sleeping in her bed or had intruded into her apartment, and she hadn't recently bought any perfume. Nobody would just enter her apartment to spray her, right? The scent kept flowing through the air in a circular motion around Lucy, but she found no real reason to complain about it.

She didn't exactly know that each type of magic had its own smell to it, and getting the smell could be done by getting the types of magic. Many mages knew this, but Lucy did not. She had no idea that her Wind Magic was causing her to smell so sweet, and Lucy decided to start off her day by having some breakfast. After all, it was the most important meal of the day.

Lucy got out of bed, ready to do some more training with Sting, and she headed to the kitchen first to make some waffles. Lucy had been moving much faster, most likely due to her training, and she quickly got the box of toaster waffles out of the refrigerator in her kitchen. She took two waffles out of the yellow box, placed them in the grey toaster, and then Lucy pulled down the lever on the toaster for her waffles to start heating up.

While her waffles were getting warmed up, Lucy couldn't stop thinking about how Sting had been such a helpful guy. He had been encouraging to her whenever they were training, always wanting her to improve, and Sting even impressed her by helping clients who needed jobs to be done. In fact, he once used his White Dragon's Roar to get rid of some fallen trees in the forest.

Sting's confidence always reflected back on Lucy, making her feel happy and giving her the feeling that she could succeed, and warmth entered her eyes when she had a little daydream about Sting taking down ten monsters easily before he would walk towards her and leave her blushing as she would look into his beautiful blue eyes that were so relaxed like a calm sea.

She was still wearing her pink pajamas, and Lucy didn't want to be late for any meetings if Sting were to knock on her door right now to take her on an exciting job with him. Lucy was about to go back to her bedroom for a change of clothes from her closet of fabulous outfits, but then she heard a slight knock at the front door. Who would want to visit her at 7:00 in the morning?

Her rent wasn't due today, and Lucy had enough money to pay it next week. She didn't want to assume that Natsu and Happy would be dumb enough to try and come into her home, since the fire dragon slayer wasn't welcome there anymore because of his rude actions, and Lucy really wouldn't care if Natsu got Erza or Gray to come and apologize in his place. That would be cowardly, right?

Even if Lisanna came to her home with a pie she baked as an apology gift for Lucy, the blonde mage still couldn't accept it. If Natsu was too much of a chicken to apologize by himself with a speech made from his own words, then how could he ever be forgiven for acting so rude and nonchalant to Lucy because she had seemed weaker than him and the rest of the team.

Upon hearing four more soft knocks on her front door, Lucy looked slightly annoyed. If Natsu was trying to be a persistent pest, then his plan was certainly working. He just wouldn't go away, and Lucy heard her waffles pop up out of the toaster. She ran back into the kitchen to unplug the toaster, and then Lucy stabbed her waffles with a silver fork before she put both of the golden and crispy waffles on a white plate. Afterwards, she went back to the door to see who her surprise visitor would be.

* * *

"Look, Natsu! I just want you to go away, and I don't want to be on your team! You're so annoying, and I don't want to see you right now while I'm-" Lucy shouted in a stern tone while having her cocoa brown eyes narrowed, before mistaking her visitor for the dense guy who saw her as a worthless piece of trash.

Karen Melancholia had shown up at her doorstep once again with a calm smile on her face, not minding Lucy's little outburst, and she had something interesting in her hands. It appeared to be a white heart-shaped pendant that was attached to a small necklace of fine golden beads, and Lucy looked quite curious about it. Did this merchant want her to have something else?

She told Lucy in a kind tone, maintaining the smile on her face, "Hello, young lady. I do hope that the book of spells is quite useful to you, and I'm still happy that you were able to open it. I obtained this magical pendant on my journey to a faraway land, but it sadly is of no use to me."

The blonde mage asked Karen, seeming curious about something supposedly magical that looked so ordinary like jewelry that someone didn't need anymore, "Really, and you want me to have it? If I may ask, what kind of magic does the pendant possess?"

Karen informed Lucy that the pendant didn't actually have any magic, leaving her with only three types of magic for now, and this pendant had something more like a little spell. The woman with silvery-blue hair did not tell Lucy that this also belonged to her master from centuries ago, but she informed her that the pendant had the mystical ability of changing one's appearance for a certain amount of time. Lucy now had an ability similar to Gemini, but it wasn't that great since the pendant wouldn't let her have a person's amount of magical power or moves.

However, Lucy's eyes widened in awe as she took in every detail of what Karen was telling her. She could use this pendant to temporarily transform, turning herself into a new person for possibly 50 minutes or a little bit more, and this seemingly weak ability had a few clever uses. She could take jobs in Fairy Tail as a new person, thus avoiding drama with Team Natsu, and she wouldn't have to really deal with Natsu trying to upset her. That was a fair trade, right?

Before Karen could explain things any further, she put the pendant around Lucy's neck and took her leave. She pretended to walk away from her apartment, going in the western direction, but Karen actually ran towards the shadow of a small bluebird flying in the air. She sunk down into its shadow quickly, nobody noticing a thing while they rowed by on their gondolas, and the deceptive woman giggled quietly while traveling through the darkness once more.

* * *

Sting had shown up from the eastern direction on Lucy's street, ready to go on a job with her today, and he was looking a bit sick from taking a boat all the way from Castelia Town to see Lucy. His blue eyes caught sight of the strange pendant around her neck, but the white dragon slayer's nose picked up the scent of the waffles that Lucy had made earlier.

He was about to ask his blonde partner if she could make him some waffles for breakfast, but Lucy seemed a bit preoccupied with the pendant that she had just received from Karen. She was somewhat spaced out, wondering how it worked, and Lucy let the white heart-shaped pendant swing back and forth in a slow manner like a pendulum. As it swung back and forth, Lucy could only think about what she would temporarily transform into. An idea entered her mind, and Lucy looked up from her pendant a few seconds too late to notice Sting.

The white heart-shaped pendant began to glow with a shining white light, nearly blinding the eyes of Sting and Lucy, and the white light engulfed the brown-eyed girl for a few moments. She could only see the light around her, and Lucy gasped in shock at the sight of three white rings of light around her neck, legs, and her stomach. What was going on?

When the light quickly faded away, Sting dropped his jaw in awe at what he was now seeing. Lucy had indeed transformed from the power of the pendant, and she now had long light brown hair that fell to her hips. Lucy's clothes had changed, too. Her pink pajamas were now replaced with a cherry red top and a black skirt, and Lucy was now wearing some red flat shoes as well. Her eyes were now emerald green, and she blushed a bit while looking at Sting.

"Whoa, what happened? How did your appearance change like that, Lucy?" Sting asked curiously, blinking his blue eyes twice to make sure that he was not imagining this.

She replied in a somewhat startled manner, looking at her new hair and the new clothes on her body, "A strange merchant gave the pendant and spell book to me, Sting. I hope that this transformation looks okay, too. I don't look bad... right?"

The white dragon slayer liked Lucy's new look, not knowing it was only temporary, and he calmly told her to turn 360 degrees around for him to get a full view of her new appearance. In his opinion, Lucy honestly looked hotter than she usually did. A nice blonde partner would be nice, but a beautiful brunette would be good to have around as well. She also had a good sense of style, making her look even more attractive.

Lucy looked like she was around the same age as Erza, having cleavage that was ample like Cana's, and this transformation proved to be pretty good. She could now take jobs in Fairy Tail without dealing with stupid drama from Natsu, but Lucy seemed cautious about this. Getting past Natsu would be easy, but what about all the other people in the guild? Could they be fooled so easily?

"What if Master, Erza, or anyone else asks me where I came from? What if Natsu or Gajeel detects a defect in my scent? What if they find new members to be suspicious, Sting? What if I can't pose as a new member of the guild and take a job without drama transpiring?" Lucy asked in a concerned tone while looking at Sting, and having her legs shake a little.

Sting responded in a stern tone, narrowing his blue eyes at Lucy while looking a bit annoyed by how she seemed to be underestimating herself here, "What if my ex-teammate Minerva had a mustache? She'd simply be manlier. Anyway, there is nothing to worry about. Go for it, okay? I know you can do it, Lucy."

He took a deep sniff of Lucy, smelling the perfume version scent of mint ice cream, and Sting knew that no one could really say that mint was anything like strawberries and vanilla. He could see that his companion began to smile from hearing his words of encouragement, and Lucy ran back inside to get her waffles before running off to the guild. She had also gotten the green book to place in Sting's hands, hoping he would guard it, and the brown-haired girl didn't even know that her confident friend waited for this opportunity to make some waffles for himself.

* * *

**At the Fairy Tail guild...**

Lucy's body trembled with a slight bit of nervousness, her hands hesitant to push open the entrance doors of the Fairy Tail guild, and she kept wondering about what would happen if no one liked her. Would they all see her as the awkward new girl, or would the members of Fairy Tail be friendly to someone who was supposedly joining their guild today?

She wanted to become a much more confident person, and Lucy knew that Sting was counting on her to get a job for them to do. She couldn't let down someone who had complete faith in her, not doubting Lucy at all, and Sting wanted her to think highly of herself. If he had believed in her, shouldn't she have been able to at least believe in herself? Lucy couldn't let down her new comrade, and she began to have some courage in her emerald green eyes. Lucy wanted to become more mature, reliable, exceptional, smarter, better, faster, and stronger.

Summoning up as much courage as she could, Lucy let out a breath of air and opened the front doors to the Fairy Tail guild. She saw the members being rowdy and wild as always, and she nearly screamed when a barrel came her way. As Lucy dodged it, she noticed her voice had become more sultry and mature to match her appearance. Clearly, this transformation had a few good side effects.

"Hey, who are you?" Levy asked calmly, as she looked up from behind the bar while seeming curious, prompting everyone to stop fighting and be frozen in their stances for a few moments while looking at the new person.

Lucy's heart beat slowly for a few seconds, and she seemed a little nervous with everyone having their eyes on her. Normally, they would ignore Lucy. However, this new transformation made everyone interested to know this unknown person. Some people glared at her for interrupting the guild's brawl of fun, but other people managed to give Lucy a smile. However, what would she say to them?

"I'm… Sakura Kēki. I just moved all the way here from Sunyshore Town in the faraway land of Sinnoh, and it's nice to meet you all. I really hope to, um... be part of the guild." Lucy said while looking nervous and trying her best to have even a small smile on her face.

She anticipated that everyone would be suspicious of a new member joining the guild, especially when interrupting their huge brawl and instead she received a shocking reaction from the last person that she wanted to see right now. Natsu made a flame engulf his left fist, and the fire dragon slayer smiled a bit while walking towards her.

"Hi, new girl! I'm Natsu Dragneel, the fire dragon slayer! Welcome to Fairy Tail! It's always good to have a new friend to fight with!" He told her with his usual happy grin on his face, before taking in a whiff of her scent to know how his new friend smelled.

What happened next would certainly surprise everyone. Natsu extended his left hand for Sakura to shake it, but then he made a flame engulf that had before trying to punch her. Natsu playfully laughed, trying to get his new ally used to how things worked here, and he didn't even care that Lucy was dodging his attacks while she moved quickly with sheer beauty and elegance.

Deciding to get rid of what was in her way, Lucy used the third spell of Wind Magic. It was the Tornado Kick that she had used on Kamira's attack, and Lucy planned to use it to push Natsu away. However, the spell caused her left foot to be surrounded by swirling currents of green wind this time. She kicked Natsu in his chest, delivering quite a strong attack, and the spell made a large green cyclone of wind appear from the air. It went straight towards Natsu, slamming him with enormous damage from the powerful winds, and the fire dragon slayer crashed into the bar while the cyclone of winds exploded into a large emerald green blast of Wind Magic.

The Fairy Tail mages shielded their eyes from the emerald green blast that was currently obliterating the bar, and this distraction gave Lucy enough time to get the guild mark color kit and stamp from the bar counter near Mira. She lifted up her shirt and put the Fairy Tail guild mark in the color of emerald green on her left waist. Afterwards, she quickly took a job from the request board and stamped it before running out the front doors as the emerald green light and green smoke began to fade away.

"What the heck was that?" Gray asked with a surprised facial expression while looking around, noticing that the new girl was now gone.

"That girl's got skills, I'll say that." Cana said while smiling at the sight of Natsu lying on his face with a large bump on his head.

"That's the power of a real man!" Elfman added while smirking, as Lisanna looked concerned for Natsu and rushed to his aid.

The bar, along with several tables and chairs, had been damaged and Erza looked annoyed at the fact that she had to fix all the damage with her many weapons. She really hated it when Natsu would start fights with people just for the fun of it, and the scarlet-haired mage honestly thought that Natsu had scared off Sakura by trying a little too hard on making a good first impression.

Lucy ran back to her apartment where Sting was waiting, and she couldn't wait to tell him the good news. She also wondered if that side effect of Tornado Kick caused the cyclone to head straight for and strike what had been kicked. The attack had gotten slightly stronger since yesterday, and Lucy wondered if her upcoming spells of Wind Magic would be greater.

* * *

She saw Sting standing in the same spot, looking directly into the sun with his mouth open, as if he was eating the sunlight while he had a plate of waffles in his left hand. He saw her running towards him, and he smiled when Lucy stopped and panted heavily. She was out of breath, but Lucy's lungs became fully restored with oxygen when she slightly inhaled some air. The emerald green book pulsated once more, and he handed it to her while taking the flyer in exchange.

"Well, that gives me two questions. How did it go, and did you eat the air like you're some kind of dragon or god slayer?" Sting asked curiously, not knowing Lucy could do that because of the Wind Magic.

"Everyone totally thought I was a new person, and I even taught Natsu a lesson by accident. I think that I now know how Tornado Kick works, and it sure made a real blast in the guild. As for inhaling the air, I think the green spell book and the Wind Magic aren't as straightforward or ordinary as I thought they were." Lucy explained while smiling happily, now holding the emerald green book.

When Sting took a look at the flyer, he noticed that the job had to be done in a place known as Cinnabar Town. That place was only accessible by crossing the sea, like many towns in other faraway lands that Sting had traveled to with Lucy, and the journey to the country of Kasai would take a few days. This would give Sting and Lucy more time to bond, and more time to prepare for the job. The flyer had instructed the mages to simply find a great treasure in a place known as the Volcanic Shrine, and finding the treasure was rumored to not be easy.

However, despite the job not being easy, Sting knew that him and Lucy could handle it. They had found the mysterious blue aura in the Snowpoint Temple, shocked that it was related to the spell book that Lucy wielded, and Sting could somehow tell that this job would have a little something extra in it as well. However, due to all the ferries being out at sea right now, the white dragon slayer was stuck in Magnolia. He had to relieve his boredom, but he was also considerate of Lucy and things that she would probably like.

"Since the sailors are out right now, and we're on land, do you want to go to a new café that opened up in Magnolia? I've been meaning to go, but I only see couples and duos walking in together. I mean, do you want to go with me as a friend?" Sting asked while blushing and looking somewhat embarrassed that he was flustered around Lucy.

Lucy replied happily while giggling in her now sultry voice as Reināre and feeling warmth in her heart, "I've seen it around for a few days, and I've also wanted to go. I'd be happy to accompany you there, Sting!"

Sting looked satisfied and he unknowingly held Lucy's hand while they made their way to the café. She blushed once more, and let her head rest gently on his right shoulder while they were walking.

"_I'm really into helping Lucy become stronger, and do her best. She's totally committed to training with me, and I want to be 100% committed to her. Wait, totally committed? Did I just think that?" _Sting thought with a smile when he realized he was holding Lucy's hand.

* * *

**At the café…**

Sting and Lucy gasped in awe at the elegant blue carpet with the brown walls to match. Pictures of coffee drinks and desserts were hung on the walls, and Sting led Lucy to a square table that was close to the blue counter. He pulled out her chair for her, prompting Lucy to run her hands through her transformed light brown hair and smile at Sting.

"I'll get us some cake and drinks, ok?" Lucy told Sting in a happy tone, as she went up to the counter with at least 1,500 jewels.

"Welcome to Café Sonata! What would you and your date like today?" The cashier asked kindly with a smile while she somewhat resembled Juvia, possibly being a year younger.

Lucy blushed when the cashier used the word "date" to describe Sting because they weren't actually dating. However, maybe they had enough chemistry to become dating partners and something more. Well, he had taken her to a cafe. It seemed like a pretty romantic start for two people to have their first date, even though Lucy was only here as Sting's friend. However, she also knew that her feelings couldn't be bottled up forever. Ignoring her thoughts, Lucy placed an order.

"I'll have two cups of caramel coffee with your special of Lovely Pink Cherry Pie, please. Lucy told the girl with a smile on her face while handing her the 15 bills of 100 jewels that totaled up to 1,500 jewels to match the price of her order.

The girl responded happily while she totaled up the price that matched 1,500 jewels and took the money from Lucy, "Wow, you want the cake for couples? That's totally romantic! Let's just say that people who eat that pie together end up being really happy, from all the rumors going around about it."

In 10 minutes, thanks to the chefs being such skilled bakers with culinary skills that were mainly focused around desserts, the Lovely Pink Cherry Pie was ready along with the two cups of caramel coffee. Lucy placed the two drinks on the nearby table where Sting waited for her, and then she went back to the counter to get the delicious pie. Afterwards, Lucy sat back down at the table with her blond partner.

Lucy sat across from Sting, who smiled when he took a sip of his caramel coffee. The caramel flavor in his drink, combined with the whip cream, made his tongue pleased to taste something so satisfying. He knew Lucy had good taste, and he was glad that he let her choose the order. Sting even wondered how the pie would taste, since it contained pink on the left side and red on the other side while the pie itself was in the shape of a heart.

"I have to admit, this was a pretty good morning. Next month, we can learn a lot more magic from that book of yours. I still don't know its rules or how the book works, but I guess we have to take things step by step. Eventually, that book of two types of magic could become an arsenal of blessings." Sting said with a smile on his face, as he cut a slice of pie and put it on his plate before eating it all.

Lucy cut a slice of pie for herself and placed it on the blue plate in front of her. She drank some of her caramel coffee, and then proceeded to taste the pink slice of pie. It had somewhat a sweet strawberry taste to it, with the red slices obviously having a cherry flavor, but Lucy didn't mind. The pie was incredibly delicious, and she was glad to be here with Sting. She didn't notice that he was eating the cherry half of the pie, which went well with the strawberry half that she was eating. Quite interesting, right?

This was almost like a date between Sting and Lucy, despite the latter being transformed into Sakura at the time. They knew that they needed to get to know each other, and Lucy made the brave move of starting it off with her question. It would be odd to ask this to the guild master of Sabertooth, not wanting to offend him in any way, but Lucy had to have courage like Sting instructed her to.

"What did you ever think of Minerva, Sting? I mean, have you ever cared for a girl before in a deep way?" Lucy asked curiously while she kept eating her pie and drinking more of her coffee.

Sting responded calmly, not really getting hints of Lucy's feelings for him, "I used to like Minerva, until she was just using Lector as a means to make me win last year's Grand Magic Games for Team Sabertooth. She used me like a tool, even threatening me to not attack her, and I can't stand women who I act like that. The girl that would suit me is someone with kindness, smarts, confidence, and power doesn't matter because I'd help her out."

Before Sting could continue, as Lucy obtained another slice of pie, he saw Natsu walk in with Lisanna. He pointed at them fast enough for Lucy to turn her head and see them, prompting her to think quickly so that Lisanna wouldn't see Sting here and assume that the new girl named Sakura was being a total double-crosser to her supposedly new guild.

While Lucy ate most of the strawberry-flavored half of the pie, Sting had been focusing his attention on the cherry-flavored half. Ignoring their unexpected company, Lucy blushed while giggling a little and cut a slice from Sting's half. Her mouth felt the two flavors of both halves merging together to create a wonderful sensation, and Lucy wanted to share her half with Sting. She even blushed at the thought of feeding him, since that's how couples acted.

Her heart was beating wildly with the taste of the wonderful pie, delicious coffee, and Sting being able to share this experience with her. Lucy got up, and she was about to tell Sting that these little feelings fluttered around her mind, mostly since last night, but how would he react? Would he say that he liked her, too? Did Sting have any feelings for her at all?

"Well, while we wait for the boats to return to Magnolia, we should go do something else. You can pick this time, Lucy." Sting said to Lucy while smirking and proceeding to walk past her.

"_This is it. No more holding back. I like Sting, and I admire him. These feelings may be small, but I need to know if he would like me someday." _Lucy thought while clenching her fists and looking determined about what she was going to do.

As she moved to stop Sting to tell him, Lucy tripped over her left foot and made Sting fall backwards. He stopped himself from falling with one hand, and he caught Lucy by the waist with the other. However, Sting's eyes widened in amazement when he saw what Lucy had used to break her fall.

Her lips had made contact with his, and her eyes were closed in slight fear of falling. However, she opened her eyes to see that she had nothing to fear. Sting had saved her, but could he save her feelings from rejection? Lucy was about to scream from making such a clumsy move, but something in her heart made her fears be effaced. She gave Sting the kiss of gratitude for saving her once again, hoping he would understand.

* * *

**How was the 6th chapter? Did you like it? Lucy has received the pendant from Karen, but her transformation won't be seen much. The pendant will also be explained during Karen's thoughts in the next chapter. The StiCy is getting good, and Lucy has just kissed Sting! There will be NaLi as well, especially in the next chapter with more development from Natsu and Lisanna. Anyway, standby for the update!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does. This story was made for fun, and not for cash. (How unfortunate.)**

* * *

**Chapter 7: A Warming Bond**

* * *

Lucy, still in her new form as Sakura, had pressed her lips against Sting's lips with such gentle ease and wanted to let him know that she had small feelings for him. She had intended to tell him, but it looked like fate made her go another way to explain things. The blush on her face was at the median between pink and red, and Lucy knew that people were watching the seemingly romantic scene.

After a few more seconds, she got off of Sting and held out her hand to help him stand up. Lucy saw the calm blue look in Sting's eyes, and his lips formed a pleased smile. Had he realized her small feelings, or would he laugh and say that Lucy was a ditzy klutz? Sting told the cashier girl to make another one of those special pies to go, and he handed her 1,000 jewels. Lucy used this chance to run out of the café, and she looked somewhat embarrassed.

She couldn't believe that she had just done that, not even asking Sting if he already had an interest in anyone else, and Lucy felt really bad for kissing him with the thought of her own feelings. She hadn't considered his feelings, and Sting might not even like her that way. She even thought that he had ordered the pie to rid the taste of her lips from his mouth, and that made Lucy feel uncomfortable.

To make things even weirder, Natsu and Lisanna had seen the whole thing occur right before their eyes. Even though she currently wasn't in her normal form as Lucy, the book-wielding mage knew that the fire dragon slayer and his white-haired girlfriend would be asking her about that if she ever showed up to the Fairy Tail guild again. That would certainly create drama, would it not?

"_Why did I act like a flirtatious idiot back there? I just wanted to tell him my feelings, and how I liked him! That was the worst move in the history of romance!" _Lucy thought to herself, as she twiddled her thumbs and blushed while looking inside the café.

As the white dragon slayer exited Café Sonata with a large brown bag in his left hand that was containing the cake, he handed the emerald green book to Lucy and she quickly turned away from him. Sting narrowed his blue eyes for a moment, realizing Lucy must be uncomfortable after that accidental kiss and his eyes became calm afterwards for him to say something.

"Look, I know that was somewhat of an accident. I'd tell you to be more careful, but I guess your careless tripping made us both happy. I mean, that was technically my first kiss and my first time kissing a girl's lips. I liked it, Lucy." Sting told her while calmly smiling at her, and attempting to hold her hand to offer her comfort if she wanted it.

Lucy's emerald green eyes twinkled with slight joy when Sting admitted that he received his first kiss from her, and he liked it. She wanted to jump for joy, but she had calmed herself down enough to respond with a gentle hug while having her head resting against Sting's chest and feeling his rock-hard abdominals with her hands. She had made a stupidly romantic move, but at least it worked in her favor.

Sting looked down at her with a smile on his face, enjoying the fact that his friend was now happy, and the white dragon slayer's charming blue eyes shifted over to the harbor for him to take notice of the S.S. Aqua returning from a voyage. This was now their chance to go on that job to Cinnabar Town, and Sting knew that he would enjoy being on this job with Lucy at his side.

As he took her left hand in his right hand, Sting smirked a bit while releasing his grip and challenging Lucy to a fun race to see who could reach the S.S. Aqua first. She giggled happily while running after him at fast speeds, letting him know that this race was definitely on, and Lucy didn't even notice that her emerald green spell book began to glow once again from her new-found love, confidence, and happiness.

While the duo decided to race to the harbor out of pure fun, a certain pink-haired dragon slayer was fuming with rage while he exited the cafe with his blue-eyed girlfriend. He couldn't believe that Sting from Sabertooth had the audacity to be in the territory of Fairy Tail, the rival guild, and Natsu was also shocked that the new girl who had joined the guild was having a romantic moment with that guy.

"What the heck was that new girl doing with Sting from that stupid Sabertooth? She has no right to be hanging with a guy like him, or kissing his nasty lips!" Natsu shouted angrily, as he clenched his teeth while looking frustrated.

"It looked accidental to me, Natsu. Maybe they were just old friends or something. I don't know their history, but let's just go back to the guild and calm you down with another fight about nonsense. Maybe Lucy showed up today, too." Lisanna told Natsu with a smile while knowing that quelling her boyfriend's rage and apologizing to Lucy would be doing two good deeds in one day.

"Eh, who needs that weak girl? Lucy was really just useless to our team, and she probably still cries over me. Anyway, did you see where that jerk went?" Natsu asked sternly, still fuming with rage and wanting to beat down Sting for being on the turf of Fairy Tail.

Lisanna sighed while looking a bit disappointed, knowing that apologizing to Lucy with the intent of trying to be on good terms with her would be making some great progress, and she also knew that Natsu's attitude towards the blonde mage was still negative with the amount of progress still being at square one. Natsu was really dense about letting people down gently, and he couldn't even realize how rude and uncaring he acted towards Lucy.

* * *

While the two mages from Fairy Tail walked off towards their guild, not seeing Sting or Sakura anywhere close by, Karen came out of the shadow of the cafe's door. She looked pleased about something, possibly Lucy's transformation, and she smiled a bit from the fact that neither Natsu or Lisanna had seen through Lucy's disguise. Clearly, Lucy's plan had worked.

Karen was really glad that she had given the spell book to Lucy, despite it only having twelve spells available, and the woman of shadows knew that only one type of magic from the book could be used at one time. In other words, Lucy would have to use up one type of magic for her to gain access to another. The amount of magical power for each type of magic had its limits as well.

However, unlocking more than one type of magic would release seals on the book. Lucy had removed one seal already, increasing her magical power, and she had become quite good with the spells. Karen had been witnessing Lucy's progress from afar, wanting to see if she was anything like her master, and the blonde mage was starting to be quite skilled.

Karen had also seen Sting as a good influence on Lucy, since he was always encouraging her and assisting her, and the two mages really had no clue about the book. They weren't on a quest to complete it, but Lucy and Sting were sort of on a journey to know each other. Lucy had small feelings for Sting, enjoying his company, and he had liked the kiss that she had given him.

While she stood by the cafe, looking like an ordinary person with no suspicious or devious thoughts at all, Karen couldn't stop thinking about the white heart-shaped pendant that she had given to Lucy. It wasn't actually just a magical pendant for transformation, but that same pendant had belonged to Karen's master before she met her own destruction.

_"The pendant of purity has changed its purpose, since all those ages have passed. It shall lead the young girl and her friend to my master, and then it shall lead to the end of something for my master's plan to truly begin." _Karen thought to herself while having a scheming look on her face, seeming quite pleased about a certain light that transpired in a certain place earlier and allowed her shadows to create a certain job for a specific mage who had a spell book.

Karen had enjoying her task of keeping tabs on Lucy, but she also saw other factors that could interfere with her plans. For one thing, Natsu had just been looking around for Sting and his female companion. The fire dragon slayer didn't exactly like Lucy, and he had probably been fuming with rage because his opportunity to make Lucy jealous hadn't come around today.

Fairy Tail could certainly be a problem, should Natsu and his team ever get in Lucy's way, but Karen also knew that Natsu's attitude towards Lucy was really not making him look good at all. Even his own team hated the way that he was treating her, not even caring for one bit because he was so in love with Lisanna, and his desire for a perfectly strong team of efficient mages would eventually backfire.

His arrogance would definitely cause a few problems, especially since his team wasn't the strongest team ever. Natsu had even shown his overconfident side to Lucy when she was disguised as Sakura, and he tried to attack her with flames engulfing his fists. Unfortunately for him, she had really sent him crashing into the bar and injured his body. Hopefully, his ego also took slight damage after that experience.

Keeping watch on Lucy's main enemies would be a rather wise move for Karen to do, and the shadows allowed her to see and hear everything from the comfort of the darkness. This would be quite an easy task, and spying on Fairy Tail right now could be useful for matters later on. Upon seeing the cafe door open once again, Karen quickly went down into its shadows and moved through the darkness to get to where she needed to be.

No one was going to get in the way of the great plan that would make Karen's master become fully revived, so she just had to make sure that Lisanna was keeping Natsu away from causing any drama. After all, he did seem to have to obey her wishes in their relationship. He wouldn't go after Lucy if Lisanna wanted to be on good terms with her, and she was certainly helping Karen indirectly keep the fire dragon slayer restricted to where he should be. Every chess piece in a plan had its role and place, you know.

This plan was really going to bring about the beginning of one thing and the end of another, but what could either one possibly be? There was something really important about the spell book, but what was it? What could it possibly cause, and were there further mysteries surrounding it? Lucy hadn't even unlocked most of the book yet, but Karen knew many secrets about it. If Lucy was similar to her master, she could certainly use the book. However, would there end up being any twists of any kind in this epic adventure that Lucy and Sting were on?

* * *

**At the harbor...**

After running so far, Lucy panted heavily while looking a bit exhausted. She hadn't managed to beat Sting here, since he only arrived a few minutes earlier to the S.S. Aqua. He was touching the ship with his left hand while cockily smirking at his brown-haired companion, happy to have won this race, and Sting knew that Lucy just needed a little bit more training if she wanted to beat him in a race.

The duo boarded the ship that was set for Cinnabar Town, and they were once again directed to the room reserved for Lucy and any other guests that might want to travel with her. The food cart was now stocked with items for brunch, meaning that all of the food was for breakfast and lunch, but the two mages would save it all for later since they had just eaten a pie at the new cafe in Magnolia.

Lucy sat on the comfy blue bed while she tried to get some relaxation after running so far, and she yawned a bit as she opened up the emerald green spell book. She looked astounded to now find that the other four spells of Wind Magic had been unlocked, due to her being able to express her feelings to Sting and become more confident, and Lucy wondered how these new spells would work.

The green text surprisingly didn't say that these spells weren't readable yet, but the book instructed Lucy to save these four spells for later on. It was possible that she would have to use them at the Volcanic Shrine in Cinnabar Town, obviously since it was hiding a special secret of some kind, and Lucy smiled a bit at the possibility of the shrine's treasure.

The great treasure had to be unlocked by four spells, which is what Lucy currently had and could use later on, and she giggled a bit at the prospect of seeing something great. The treasure could even be something legendary, never seen for centuries, and now Lucy had to chance to uncover it. Of course, she wondered what Sting thought about treasure and ancient history.

"Do you have a thing for legends and lore, Sting? Does the exciting prospect of discovering uncharted places and finding new things make you interested?" Lucy asked him in a calm tone, blushing a bit while she had kindness in her emerald green eyes as she smiled.

Sting seemed a bit intrigued by her question, having a charming look in his blue eyes while looking at her, and he responded in a relaxed manner, "History has its great moments, but finding ancient stuff is nothing like taking down the monsters of today. Still, that accidental kiss will be quite the historic event for us to remember."

At that moment, Lucy began to blush cherry red from remembering how Sting had such soft lips. Her kiss had been really relaxed, not too hard or too soft, and Lucy had wanted him to understand the feelings that she had for him. Based on his last sentence, Lucy could tell that her feelings had definitely reached out to Sting. She admired him, and he was starting to like her as a response to her kindness, silliness, and new confidence.

Lucy saw Sting as a guy who was much better than Natsu in every way, much more smarter than the fire dragon slayer, much kinder with a great attitude that made Lucy have a smile on her face, and she really enjoyed being around a great guy like Sting. They weren't in any kind of a relationship yet, and they couldn't exactly move too fast after an accidental incident of romance.

She wanted to know more about Sting, wanting to know his past, but then Lucy also remembered that not everyone came from such a nice past. She wouldn't want to pry into matters that were sensitive for Sting, and even asking about why he surrendered to Fairy Tail in last year's Grand Magic Games might be a bad topic to bring up. Sting was the type of person who faced forward in order to become strong, and Lucy knew she couldn't be staring back at a person's past or her own. She had to focus on the current path, the route of success that Sting was sailing on with her.

The brown-haired female definitely had to remember her times of success over her times of failure, and she had even forgiven Sting for laughing at her humiliation in the Naval Battle last year. He had changed since then, becoming less of a jerk, and Sting was the exact opposite of Natsu. The fire dragon slayer didn't want Lucy on his team because she weak, and Natsu might probably even allow Minerva to join his team if they ever crossed paths. However, Sting wasn't like Natsu. He actually helped Lucy, being so kind to her, and that's what she mainly liked about his personality.

Natsu had cared for Lucy in the past, liking her as a teammate, but all that he could think about right now was Lisanna. He didn't care about what happened to an old teammate, and Lucy really had no other choice to be reciprocal with him. He had been quite rude to her lately, trying to make her jealous by kissing Lisanna and getting sexy with her at times, and Lucy didn't want his idiocy and immaturity to bother her.

She didn't have to take abuse from a brash idiot who saw her as nothing, and Lucy was really glad to be spending most of the time with the guy who liked her as if she was a rare and valuable jewel that couldn't be romantically obtained easily by loving her strength alone. Power and attention by themselves weren't everything necessary for loving a woman, you know. Her personality, if it was appealing in some way, would make her be admired as well.

* * *

**Two-day timeskip…**

The ship finally docked in Cinnabar Town, a tourist resort on an island that had a volcano. Many balloons of various colors were being released into the air by the young kids, and the merchant shops were also making great profits off of their merchandise because of the hot climate. The hotels were housing many tourists, and they certainly were having great food as well.

Lucy and Sting stepped on to the pier, both looking pleased at how cool the town looked with the volcano in the background, and they wondered where the Volcanic Shrine was located. Something important like that had to be found somewhere, but where? Sting thought about asking the people here, but most of them seemed to be tourists who only came here for a good time and some excitement. Lucy smiled a bit at the sight of a few happy couples buying snacks from a concession stand, and the brown-haired girl thought that she and Sting could spend some time being happy while looking for the shrine.

Speaking of time, the white heart-shaped pendant around Lucy's neck began to emit a white light once again. She gasped in shock as the light got brighter, even blinding Sting's eyes, and it only lasted a few moments. When the light faded away quickly, Sting opened his eyes to see that Lucy had reverted back to wearing her pink pajamas. She also had her blonde hair and brown eyes back, too. This transformation had been wearing off about after every 50 minutes or so, and Sting still wondered who in the world would make a strange pendant like that.

With that aside, Sting could guess where the Volcanic Shrine would be located. It would have to obviously be in the volcano or somewhere close to there, and the volcano was in the northeastern part of the town. The white dragon slayer quickly ran off in that direction, with Lucy following right behind him, and the two mages were determined to find the treasure.

Since the island wasn't exactly large, Sting and Lucy didn't have to go through a dense forest or take any long routes to reach the volcano. The town surprisingly had a pretty straight path to the volcano, straight enough with a few directions and signs for anyone not to miss the landmark of Cinnabar Town, and Lucy smiled a bit when she arrived at the foot of the volcano with Sting. Climbing upward would be a risk, and it also seemed to not be permitted since there were some guards around the volcano.

Lucy gasped a bit while seeing a cavernous opening at the foot of the volcano, and there was something inside that cave. Lucy could see a red glow of some kind, and she ran into the cave with Sting when the guards and tourists were busy looking at the top of the volcano while the history of the island was being explained. At least these people were lucky to not find a mansion and a ruined lab focusing on cloning and genetics, right? (Referencing Cinnabar Island in Generations one & three.)

Upon entering the small room, Sting asked in a shocked manner while seeing the treasure in the middle of the room, "This is the treasure?"

A red aura was floating about in the center of the room, seeming very familiar yet also mysterious, and Lucy also noticed that there were four floating grey keyhole-shaped stones on all four corners of the aura. They obviously had to be destroyed by four spells, one spell to obliterate one stone, and the brown-eyed girl had the perfect combination to get rid of those locks.

She opened the emerald green spell book, and Lucy called upon the power of the fifth spell. It was known as Feather Dancer. This move caused many green feathers to float in midair, before they landed on one of the stones and exploded in a multitude of medium-sized emerald green blasts of Wind Magic. From an aerial view of this room, the stone in the upper-left corner of the square seal had been destroyed.

Quickly looking down at the spell book, Lucy noticed that the next spell was known as Wind Cannon. This spell made a large green drill of wind emerge from Lucy's mouth, and it spun at intense revolution speeds that could rip a person to shreds if they made direct contact with it. This spell headed straight for the stone in the upper-right corner of the square seal, destroying it completely, and then proceeding to create a large emerald green explosion.

Lucy really wanted this treasure, really hoping to discover the secret of the red aura, and she used the seventh spell next. It was known as Aerial Shuriken, and this spell made a few green shuriken appear in Lucy's hands. She threw the seven projectiles at the next stone, noticing they were traveling along seven different paths of wind, and the shuriken struck the stone in the bottom-left corner while making cracks in it. They detonated, create emerald green blasts, and this spell had a side effect. The blasts created large air currents around Lucy, and she felt all the air entering her mouth like it needed to heal its master.

Her magical power was now fully restored, and Lucy decided to active the eighth and final spell of Wind Magic. This spell was known as Sky Impact, and its name seemed a bit ominous. The spell itself didn't call for Lucy to do anything, and it caused the winds to take the form of a large emerald green serpentine-like creature. This creature flew around Sting and Lucy, making the former seem a bit scared, but then Lucy's new creature fired a massive emerald green beam of Wind Magic from its mouth! The attack obliterated the last stone, creating an extremely massive emerald green blast, and then the light faded away with the creature.

After using up so much power, Lucy looked utterly exhausted. Those four new spells took up lots of power, especially the last one, and the brown-eyed girl panted heavily while she was about to fall to the ground. However, Sting caught her from behind and set her down on the ground for a moment. He took her emerald green spell book from her hands, seeming curious about it, and Sting walked towards the now unlocked red aura. It felt too hot for him to touch it, and the mysterious aura entered the book while it seemed to be laughing.

Lucy's book began to change to a cherry red color, making Sting look appalled at the sight of magic like this transpiring right before his eyes. He opened the book slowly, hoping to find something, but the book didn't glow like last time. The words in red had appeared, obviously in their olden language, and Sting couldn't understand any of it. This book was strange to him, and it seemed to only want to react to Lucy. What secrets could the book be hiding?

Not wanting to stay here any longer, Sting carried Lucy on his back while smirking a bit at the sound of her suddenly snoring softly. She had been really exhausted from using up so much power, and Lucy really deserved a reward for helping Sting uncover a treasure that was valuable to her. The white dragon slayer planned to take her back home on the S.S. Aqua, but first he had to buy some medicine that contained large amounts of Troia to prevent his motion sickness.

_"Lucy, you're a pretty good kisser and you're also really attractive. I need to get strong for you, since you're improving your skills, and we're definitely going to have some more fun like we did today." _Sting thought to himself, happiness in his blue eyes while smiling more as he walked down toward the merchant shops to get the medicine.

* * *

**How was the 7th chapter? Did you like it? Sting and Lucy are building their chemistry some more, and things seem to be going well. The next type of magic has appeared, but it has its limits. Also, the NaLi development shall occur in the next chapter when Lisanna tries to be friends with Sakura, Lucy's alter-ego, and talks about the blonde mage. How shall that go? What happens next? Standby for the update!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does. This story was made for fun, and not for cash. (How unfortunate.)**

* * *

**Chapter 8: Omega & Alpha, Part one**

* * *

The next day, Lucy arrived at the guild with a happy smile on her face. No one had discovered or even suspected that she was going out on jobs with Sting. She wore a simple black T-shirt with an orange skirt to match, along with some fancy purple flat shoes. Upon opening Fairy Tail's entrance doors, Lucy noticed that everyone was being calm instead of wild and rowdy.

Lisanna seemed to be trying to reprimand Natsu about something he had done, but Lucy didn't seem to care about the drama occurring with them. She wanted to face forward to the future, and she didn't want to look back at her past. Sting had taken her home because he was such a caring guy, and Lucy really was glad about having feelings for the white dragon slayer.

He had been her best partner on missions, and Sting had really been helping out Lucy a lot. He had knowledge of other lands, and Sting was also great at sniffing out hidden traps in many areas. He had even saved Lucy from walking into a minefield when they had to find an item in a dangerous forest, and Sting's Holy Ray had destroyed all the mines. Lucy had looked scared while they were safe up in a tree, but she was also blushing from holding on to Sting. He had ran his fingers through her blonde hair on that day, and Lucy had felt happy with him. Quite a good teammate, was he not?

Sting had given her the day off, after that 2-day adventure to Cinnabar Town, and he deserved some time to recharge after retching up his motion sickness in the sea when he got off the boat in Magnolia. He had even been bragging about new moves he created, but he'd save them for the next Grand Magic Games. Lucy was looking forward to seeing him there, and she would actually be rooting for Sabertooth in the events and battles.

While it was good for both of them to take a break from training, Lucy did miss Sting. She couldn't stop thinking about the kiss they shared by accident, and how she let her feelings out by intensifying the bliss of the kiss. There was a warm feeling in her chest when she thought about Sting, and she began to blush when she imagined him holding her in a bridal-style fashion.

Lucy had made her way to the request board, hoping to find a good job for the day, and she just wanted to make a little bit of extra money for herself and Sting. She didn't mind that he wouldn't be with her on the job today, but Lucy looked a bit worried since she had noticed that the spell book had turned red. Sting had told her about how it happened, but he couldn't even read the third olden language. Something new had been written in the strange book, and what type of magic would it end up being?

The blonde mage noticed that four spells were written in their section of the book, and the spells were written in cherry red text. The unreadable words were written in scarlet red text, and Lucy wasn't able to use these spells yet. Despite the readable words being in cherry red, the book told Lucy that she could only use these four spells for individuality. She didn't know what that meant, but Lucy smiled a bit from also knowing that each spell had its own purpose. Still, what hint was the book trying to give her? Did she have to use the spells in a certain order or in various ways?

She noticed that the jobs on the request board weren't exactly bringing in large amounts of cash, and Lucy also knew that she couldn't go upstairs to the S-Class bulletin board to find jobs there. Lucy groaned in frustration from not finding any good jobs on her day off, and hearing Natsu's laughter wasn't exactly making things any better for her.

"Quit making me laugh, Lisanna! I don't need to be nice to Lucy, and it's because she's just so much weaker than us! I don't see why you have to be disliking me for comparing her to that slow snail we beat the other day!" Natsu exclaimed in a happy manner, laughing while he nearly fell out of his chair.

The white-haired mage responded nicely with kindness in her blue eyes, trying to not have discord between members of the Fairy Tail guild, "Just cause you love me, that's no excuse to treat Lucy like trash! Natsu, she did nothing bad to you! Being harsh on Lucy will get the situation nowhere, so just stop acting like your ego is so much bigger than our love!"

Natsu didn't really care about Lucy anymore, and he seemed to be too in love with Lisanna and in love with his ego to really have any sense. His team had been doing well on jobs, but it usually took the four of them to defeat the most dangerous bandit or capture a dangerous animal. Natsu had even made out with Lisanna during the job, an action that greatly got on the nerves of Erza and Gray. They also seemed a tad annoyed by Natsu trying to show off for Lisanna on many jobs, setting the monsters ablaze, but Natsu had also destroyed many towns in the process.

The team hadn't even received the large bag of 900,000 jewels from the mayor of a beach town that they had visited for the job of making fireworks for a festival, and it was because Natsu's giant fireball had destroyed the town's statue of its mayor. His flames had also spread to other parts of the beach, destroying many surfboards, and the entire festival had been ruined. Even though Erza would strangle Natsu while Gray scolded him, the fire dragon slayer could care less. He only cared about Lisanna and himself these days, which was really pathetic.

* * *

Lucy had overheard Lisanna's defensive words, seeing that she really did want to be on good terms with her, but Lucy also had to accept the fact that the girls couldn't really get along if Natsu would be such a jerk to Lucy. He just kept making this conflict boil at heated temperatures, and even Gray wanted to beat up Natsu for how he was currently acting. His immaturity really made him look bad, and the fire dragon slayer just loved to boast about how he loved Lisann and how she was just as strong as him.

The blonde mage did not want to deal with the guy that she used to like, and she prepared to walk out of the Fairy Tail guild for some peace. She needed to clear her head and find a way to visit Sting, you know. After all, he never said that she couldn't come to see him on their day off from training. Lucy definitely felt happy about her plan for the day, ready to go on the S.S. Aqua while she walked towards the entrance doors of Fairy Tail, but then she gasped a bit from feeling someone grab her left arm from behind.

She turned around to see Lisanna with a kind look on her face, really wanting to be on good terms and apologize for Natsu's brash behavior, but Lucy did not feel like risking her new friendship for some stupid drama. Natsu was the last guy that she wanted to be around right now, and he certainly wouldn't have anything nice to tell Lucy. Why was Lisanna trying to bridge of friendship in Fairy Tail, anyway? If there was a wall between Lucy and Team Natsu, why not let it stay there? She had nothing to say to that dense dragon slayer, and he would only fuel the fire.

"Look, I just wanted that I'm sorry about Natsu kicking you off of the team. He's been getting really cocky on missions lately, and you probably have gotten stronger since that time. I'd really like for us to be friends, and-" Lisanna explained nicely with a kind look in her blue eyes, really hoping to be on good terms with Lucy, until a certain someone intervened and got in between them.

Natsu had heard the whole conversation, and he really couldn't accept the fact that his girlfriend wanted to make amends with someone that he saw as a complete weakling. He gave Lucy a teasing look, knowing she was nothing without her keys, and he even imitated the blonde mage when she would summon a spirit. Natsu thought Lucy was nothing without her keys, but he didn't know about that spell book. Natsu took a step towards Lucy, hoping to heckle some more, but his nose caught a big whiff of something unusual around her.

"That's gross, Lucy! You smell like those wimps from Sabertooth! Have you been around them or something, since you're just as weak as they are? I'm sure you realize now that we aren't friends. The perfect team isn't formed by having a replacement, but by eliminating it. You'll make it easy for me to beat you up, Lucy. I just hate it when dirty scum tries to fight against someone like me. You're just as weak as that idiot Sting, you garbage heap!" Natsu told her in a derogatory manner, heckling her with a grossed out look before laughing at his own insults.

Lucy, however, was not finding this to be a joke of any kind. Natsu had just insulted her, and he insulted Sting as well. She looked extremely annoyed and irritated by the fire dragon slayer thinking that she was the same girl who was so saddened and could be broken down easily by hurtful words, but Lucy was tired of being pushed around by this dense jerk. Lucy wouldn't let him get away with insulting Sting, too, since Natsu didn't even know that Sting was a much cooler guy than he seemed to be. On top of that, Lucy would never let anyone get off free after they insulted the guy that she had feelings for.

Gray and Cana stood at a table near the area where the drama was transpiring, both mages ready to step in and help Lucy defend herself, but Erza faced them with a stern look in her brown eyes. She wasn't going to let them intervene right now, especially since she had caught sight of the red spell book pulsating while it was in Lucy's left hand. Steam even rose from the book, so would these spells be hot like Lucy's current anger? She narrowed her cocoa brown eyes at Natsu, determined to show that jerk how she had improved since being away from him, and she quickly opened the red spell book.

"I call upon thee, the first spell, Fiery Embers!" Lucy shouted angrily while she leaped back to get some distance from Natsu, as the words in cherry red text on the pages began to glow.

This spell caused Lucy to spit out five small fireballs from her mouth, and she couldn't believe that these spells were for Fire Magic. She knew that Natsu was a fire dragon slayer, capable of eating any kind of fire that was not his own, and she looked a bit disappointed at the thought of these spells being useless against him. She saw him quickly unleash Fire Dragon's Roar, producing a spiraling beam of red fire that headed straight for Lucy, but his attack suddenly split into five different beams! They merged with Lucy's fireballs, strengthening them exponentially in power and size, prompting the fireballs to harshly strike Natsu.

Five fiery explosions occurred, and Natsu had surprisingly taken damage from Lucy's fire attacks. The spell book's elements were not exactly in the categories of a dragon or a god, so neither Natsu or Zancrow could eat Lucy's flames. That first spell had the power of taking an enemy's fire attacks and absorbing them, before multiplying the power exponentially to do some massive damage. The side effect of this spell allowed Lucy to inhale all the flames like Natsu could, and she felt a bit more powerful.

Not wanting to be shown by Lucy, Natsu saw her first spell as beginner's luck. It definitely was not luck, however, and her spell book was working in her favor. The Fire Magic was certainly hurting Natsu, and he looked a bit angry about being shown up by his own element. The fire dragon slayer proceeded to use Fire Dragon's Sword Horn for the chance of striking Lucy from up close for her spells to not strike him, and Natsu engulfed his entire body in flames before he propelled himself towards Lucy at high speeds. This move could really hurt someone, and Natsu snickered confidently from seeing Lucy remain perfectly still.

Gray yelled at Lucy to get out of the way of Natsu's attack, thinking she would getting badly burnt, but the ice mage saw something interesting. Lucy was smiling a bit, and she seemed perfectly calm like she had a plan up her sleeve. The blonde female quickly activated the second spell, and it was known as Magma Liquid. This spell caused Lucy to unleash six blobs of red goop from her mouth, and they all struck Natsu while being engulfed in his flames. The goop was actually volcanic liquid at a hot temperature, getting even hotter with Natsu's flames making the goop boil, and it began to harden quickly on the skin of the fire dragon slayer.

Natsu was now getting close to Lucy, but a sudden miniature red explosion of fire forced him out of the flames that engulfed his body. More fiery explosions occurred on Natsu's skin, sending him flying backwards, and Lucy gasped a bit from realizing that the hardened liquid was the main cause of that. It had to boil and solidify before it could explode, and the fiery blasts actually made flames enter Lucy's mouth to refill her magical power. She felt more energy enter her body, but Lucy also noticed that she had dealt eleven blows to Natsu. She hadn't defeated him, but he had used up a lot of power to attack while he had also taken damage.

"You have to be kidding me. I can't possibly be having trouble against a low-class mage like Lucy! She's much weaker than I am, and that book doesn't make her strong at all! Compared to me, she's a loser that quivers in fear! I'll show you how elite I am!" Natsu shouted while he looked angry, enraged that someone like Lucy was beating him down with Fire Magic.

He angrily used Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame, one of his strongest moves, and Natsu jumped up into the air while igniting both of his hands with large flames. He combined the flames together to create a large fireball in his hands. He threw it at Lucy with intense power and speed, only to see her use the third spell in the red book. This spell was known as Heated Split, and it divided Natsu's large fireball into four fireballs. The amount of power for each of them was equal to the original, however, and the fireballs were now having cherry red flames to indicate their switch to Lucy's side. Natsu fell down to the ground, and he looked shocked to see his fireballs being sent back at him.

They were about to hit him with tremendous force, but then four swords appeared in front of Natsu. They were acting like a shield to him, protecting him from the attack, and Natsu was glad that they did. When the fireballs struck the swords, four enormous fiery explosions transpired! The wind had blown away some people while it knocked over some tables, and the force of the explosions was enough to actually shake the guild for a few seconds. To not hurt any innocent people, Lucy had inhaled most of the flames. She could tell that her amount of magical power had grown, especially since she didn't even seem tired from using three spells.

After the smoke cleared up, Erza appeared in between Natsu and Lucy. She was wearing her Heaven's Wheel Armor, having requipped into it while her friends had been fighting, and Erza didn't exactly make those shields to save Natsu. Lisanna had still been standing behind him, and she hated to see this tense conflict. Natsu was her boyfriend, and he talked so badly about Lucy. Lisanna really wanted to make up with her, but she also didn't want to lose Natsu. The white-haired mage could be the only one to get the fire dragon slayer back to his senses, and she also wanted to be on good terms with Lucy.

Erza told Lucy in a calm tone, having some regret in her brown eyes while she requipped back to her Heart Kreuz Armor, "Listen, Lucy. After all the drama that happened, and now this... I just think it's best for you to leave the guild. You're a good friend to most of us, but I know that you don't need to deal with any of Natsu's crap."

Gray added regretfully, also saddened to have to send Lucy off, "We'll be giving Natsu a long talk, and we're going to miss you. Sorry that it has to be this way, but you do need to be somewhere. Something about you just tells me that, Lucy."

He had obviously seen how she seemed to be thinking about Sting before Lisanna had tried to apologize to Lucy, and Gray didn't want to see one of his best friends get hurt anymore in any way. Ever since Lucy had been kicked off of the team, Natsu had nothing good to ever say about her. She may have been a replacement, but she was still a person. Gray honestly knew that final attack would've finished off Natsu, had Erza not intervened to try and calm things down between them, and he also knew that Lucy would cross paths with Fairy Tail again one day.

She didn't want to tell her friends that she was seeing a member of the rival guild, and Lucy preferred to not let them know about it. She did not want anymore drama of any kind to ensue, and Lucy also knew that she needed to get to Castelia Town to visit Sting. Breaking her ties with Fairy Tail was tough, but it sadly had to be done. However, Lucy couldn't let the sadness of parting ways overshadow her desire to turn away from her past and start facing forward to the future. This was the end for her in Fairy Tail, but it was also the beginning of her start to look towards the light of happiness.

* * *

**How was the 8th chapter? Did you like it? I decided to do something a little bit different from most writers, and not have all of Team Natsu be hurtful to Lucy for her to leave. This chapter was also serious, but the StiCy in the next chapter shall make up for the lack of it here. The next chapter is also quite fun, so standby for the update!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does. This story was made for fun, and not for cash. (How unfortunate.)**

* * *

**Chapter 9: Omega & Alpha, Part two**

* * *

After leaving the Fairy Tail guild, Lucy walked down the dirt path that led into the town of Magnolia. She had gone back to her apartment to pack up her things since she wouldn't be living in this town anymore, and Lucy knew that she had to go to Castelia Town for a chance at visiting Sting on their day off. She had wanted to see him with a happy smile on her face, showing him that nothing bad could possibly happen on their day off, but Lucy would have to tell him about what happened earlier in her previous guild that was known as Fairy Tail.

Erza had suggested that Lucy leave the guild, as to not have anymore drama start between her and Natsu, and the scarlet-haired mage looked a bit regretful about losing one of her closest friends to another guild. Gray had also looked disappointed about the fact that Lucy had to leave, but he had also known that she would become stronger than Natsu. He had seen the power of her Fire Magic, seeing those flames burn hotter than Natsu's, and they had burned brightly with that desire to show the fire dragon slayer that Lucy was far from weak.

She had definitely shown that jerk she wasn't as inferior as he thought she was, and Lucy's red spell book pulsated faintly while she sat down at her desk to write a letter to her landlady. She was informing her that the rent of 70,000 jewels every month would no longer be paid, and she would have to find a new tenant. Lucy needed to start off her new life in a new place where she would be far from her past, not having to deal with its dark days of drama anymore.

The blonde mage also planned to go down to the harbor for another ride on the S.S. Aqua, even though it was only going across the sea to the port town of Castelia, and she would probably get to have a self-made tour of the town to know all of its streets, districts, and buildings. The fashion district of Castelia did have very nice clothes, and that would definitely appeal to Lucy. Would she also like the cafes, along with the nice plaza in the center of the town?

While she was also set on starting a new life, Lucy could not forget about informing her young friend Wendy of her departure. The two girls had been like sisters, ever since Wendy joined Fairy Tail, and parting ways like this would be kind of heartbreaking. The girls may not see each other until the Grand Magic Games or whenever a much less dramatic event comes around for the country of Fiore, but Lucy knew they would still be friends. She wrote a note to Wendy, but she kept it on her desk while having hopes that the young sky dragon slayer would find it.

Lucy had packed some casual clothes into a small pink suitcase that she had, and she also made sure to pack some bathroom supplies for when she needed to bathe or do her hair. The Sabertooth guild probably had all the soap and shampoo types that Lucy had ever dreamed of, but it might not have had all the furniture in her apartment. Despite that minor setback, knowing that Sting was the master of that guild, Lucy could tell that things would begin to get better for her. She did have her keys with her, too.

As she picked up the red spell book, grabbing her luggage and preparing to leave, a white card fell out of the book. This was another piece of info that the book wanted Lucy to know about, and the words were in the cherry red text of the book's third language. Lucy could understand it like she could with the other two, and she began to read the advice to herself.

_"The spells in the third set are explosive, but also very fiery. Even the most unorthodox of spells can be used for a good strategy." _Lucy read off the card while smiling a bit, before putting it in the left pocket of her black shorts.

Seeing that there was nothing left for her to do, the blonde mage slightly giggled while running out of the apartment with her spell book in her right hand while her left hand pulled the handle on her pink suitcase. She had managed to close the door behind her, though, making sure that no thieves would try to get in and be a bad surprise for the next tenant. As Lucy walked down towards Magnolia's harbor, a familiar blue cat flying through the air had caught sight of her.

Happy had been helping Lisanna on some jobs lately, and she had always been the one to feed him nowadays. Natsu hadn't brought him any fish, since he was too busy kissing the white-haired mage and buying her many gifts with his money, and Happy was one of the people who knew that Natsu was caught in a triangle between his love and his pride. In the end, what would he get more of when his actions were going to be the main judges of his fate? However, the blue Exceed did not have a clue about what Lucy was up to.

Happy had been smart enough to go out on jobs with Wendy as well, most likely in some attempts to be close to Carla, and he hadn't been around most of the drama that was being caused by his reckless friend. He had been wondering where Lucy had been, however, and Happy was concerned about her. Lisanna had told him about what Natsu had done, acting totally rude and obnoxious about wanting his supposedly strong team, and the blue Exceed knew that Lucy had to be feeling slightly depressed by that. He wanted to cheer her up, flying down to her, and Happy was wondering what would happen today.

"Hey, Lucy! Today is a beautiful day for us to spend some time together!" Happy told her in a cheerful manner, as he landed on her head.

As Happy softly made his descent on to her head before flying in front of her face, Lucy gave him a soft and sorry smile. She didn't plan on seeing the blue Exceed right now, and telling him the news would possibly be a bit difficult. Happy was a sweet cat who joked around sometimes, and Lucy knew that he was her friend. She really knew that she would have to tell him, anyway, since he was giving her a cheerful look that really couldn't be ignored by anyone.

She told him nicely, softly hugging him while having a bit of regret in her cocoa brown eyes, "Happy, I have to leave Magnolia. The drama with Natsu is just too much for me, and I don't want to deal with his idiocy anymore. Don't worry, though. You'll see me again one day."

Her departure came as a bit of a shock to the blue Exceed, but he shrugged it off when she had mentioned that Natsu was giving her a hard time. He had been acting quite arrogant and in love with Lisanna, caring only about her and his team's success, so Happy knew how Lucy was feeling bullied and neglected by him. He didn't want to see her go, but Happy shared Erza's opinion. This was for the well-being of a good friend, so it had to be done.

"I see. I'm going to miss you, Lucy. Fairy Tail will be different without you, but Natsu surely wouldn't realize that. He doesn't care about you or me anymore, and he just wants to have a great team that can help him out on missions. Make sure you send me a letter every once in a while, and attach a fish to it." Happy told her in a kind manner, before breaking the hug while smiling a bit at Lucy.

Not wanting her to miss the boat, Happy told Lucy that he would be all right. She told him that her destination would be Castelia Town, the town across the sea, and Lucy smiled a bit while hoping Happy wouldn't tell anyone. She shared one last hug with the blue Exceed, and Lucy waved goodbye while she ran towards the harbor to begin her new life. Unknown to each other, Lucy and Happy were actually holding back a few tears. This is where they had to part ways, but would fate ever let them meet again?

**15 minutes later...**

After she boarded the boat to Castelia Town, Lucy stayed in her room on the S.S. Aqua. She was eating a slice of cherry pie that was from the food cart, enjoying its delicious flavor, and the blonde mage knew that every passing minute would get her closer to seeing Sting again. He wouldn't be expecting her company, but she did want this to be a special suprise for the white dragon slayer.

Sting had also been the one to find the red words in the spell book, and Lucy would now be able to tell him that they were from Fire Magic. She would also be able to say that her spells nearly beat Natsu, a dragon slayer who could eat fire itself, and Sting would probably be proud of her for that. Lucy liked to hear him give her praise, and Sting was such a great guy.

She even wondered what types of sweets he liked, since she never ever took any treats from the food cart for him or herself, and Lucy felt like she should give something great to a nice guy like Sting. She loved being around him, enjoying his cool attitude, and Lucy smiled a bit while she sat on the bed and thought about joining the guild known as Sabertooth.

Lucy knew that no one like Minerva would be in that guild, and the blonde mage had never really wondered about what happened to that woman. She just hoped that her time in Sabertooth would be better than her time in Fairy Tail, since Sting was the master of that guild. He really was a powerful person, even when his skills weren't at full power, and Lucy loved how Sting wasn't so horrible like Natsu. He was calm and relaxed, just like his charming blue eyes.

As Lucy was eating a slice of cherry pie, she also wondered about the fourth spell in the red spell book. She hadn't gotten a chance to use it on Natsu because of Erza intervening to stop the fight, and the spell remained a mystery to her. Would it be powerful with a twist like the other three spells, or would this be some kind of a healing or enhancement spell? Every new skill was exciting to Lucy, and this book really had her intrigued. The three languages were old, probably too old for even Makarov to understand, and Lucy wondered where they originated from.

Suddenly, the captain had come on the intercom to let everyone know that the ship had docked in the town of Castelia. Lucy was happy to reach her destination, and she even took a tray of chocolate brownies from the food cart as a gift for Sting. She really had a warm love for him, nearly as hot as the brownies on the tray, and her burning desire to impress him had actually resonated with the red spell book. It began to pulsate once again, responding to the feelings in Lucy's heart, but she had once again missed that exciting sight.

The blonde mage exited the ship and stepped on to Prime Pier, looking at all the skyscrapers in front of her, and Lucy had to wonder where the Sabertooth guild was located. None of the businessmen passing by would say a word, and even the artists looked too busy to give her a moment of their time. Seeing no other option, Lucy simply walked up the pier to the Oceanfront Road.

* * *

She went down the far right street to see that this was the Fashion District, the street with all the fashion stores lined up on both sides, and Lucy liked seeing many cool clothes and fancy shoes in the windows of the shops. There were even stores that were selling beautiful dresses, miniskirts, jeans, and even bows for girls to have in their hair. All of the people looked pretty fashionable on this street, but fashion always did have quite a high price. Could Lucy even afford a pair of sunglasses, let alone a dress?

Lucy didn't know this, but all four streets of Castelia Town led right to the plaza. The Sabertooth guild was actually in the center of the plaza, quite fitting for a guild to be, and the blonde mage kept walking down Fashion Street to unknowingly reach the guild. Her new life would start soon, and Lucy liked how there was even a concession stand that sold cupcakes shaped like bows. The price for one was only 100 jewels, and Lucy bought one while leaving the money on the seat where the shopkeeper was supposed to be. It certainly wasn't good to leave a business unattended, you know.

She walked all the way to the plaza, but the Sabertooth guild wasn't the first thing that was noticed by Lucy. She looked over at the fountain in front of the guild, seeing the beautifully flowing fountain of water make the Sabertooth symbol at random instances, and the blonde girl noticed that Rogue Cheney sat on a park bench with his green Exceed named Frosch. They seemed to be smiling happily, enjoying the peace and quiet, and Lucy wondered if they had sensed her presence.

Turning her brown eyes away from them, Lucy gasped in shock from noticing the Sabertooth guild situated behind the fountain. The building was identified by a large red banner, covered in lines and sporting light edges, which bears the guild's symbol, held up by an horizontal staff secured via a chain to a metal ring, adorned by fang-like protrusions, which topped the high pole sustaining the emblem.

Sabertooth's headquarters itself appeared to be a very large saffron-colored complex consisting of several structures joined together. Some of them were even sitting on top of the others, generating an imposing, elongated structure vaguely reminiscent of an odd pyramid adorned by a multitude of facades, windows and pillars, as well as by some pointed towers protruding upwards from its upper part. Topping the whole structure was a massive gold statue portraying the animal which is the guild's namesake, a saber-toothed cat with its jaws open.

The Sabertooth guild looked so prestigious to Lucy on the outside, and she could only mouth the words of someone who looked greatly impressed by an amazing sight like this. She took a few steps back to really look at the whole guild, and she unknowingly walked backwards into a certain dragon slayer who moved through the shadows to properly greet her after him and Frosch had just seen her in this town.

"Greetings, Lucy Heartfilia from Fairy Tail. Sting has told me a lot about you. My name is Rogue Cheney, the user of Shadow Dragon Slayer Magic in Sabertooth, and my Exceed's name is Frosch." The black-haired man said in a calm tone, as Lucy turned around to face him and the Exceed that smiled in a carefree manner while standing on his left shoulder.

Lucy replied nicely while introducing herself, having a kind smile on her face, "It's nice to meet you, Rogue. I'm actually here because I want to join Sabertooth, but I must first get my Fairy Tail guild mark removed."

She was looking down at the back of her right hand to show the pink insignia of Fairy Tail to Rogue, only to see him calmly blink his red eyes for a moment like he was seeing nothing. Lucy wondered what was wrong, but then she held the back of her right hand to see that not a single trace of her Fairy Tail guild mark existed. She hadn't washed it off or rubbed it off, so what happened? Lucy looked a bit puzzled by this, but then she saw the bright side of it. Now she could get a new guild mark in Sabertooth.

As Rogue and Lucy walked towards the guild's entrance doors, neither one of them had noticed that Lucy's red book had a red aura faintly surrounding it. This red aura had been warming up like Lucy's determination to become stronger, and the heat from the book had traveled to Lucy's right hand to make a safe red flame appear on the back of her right hand to burn away her pink guild mark of Fairy Tail. This was a really interesting book with many strange powers, right?

* * *

When the shadow dragon slayer opened the doors for his blonde companion, Lucy gasped in awe at the inside of the Sabertooth guild looking like a hotel lobby with its fancy chairs, golden walls, and red carpeting. They had a brown bar like the one at Fairy Tail, but it was a self-serving bar with its machines for drinks, candy, and chips. There was even a waffle machine that dispensed waffles, and the ice cream machine stayed pretty cold with the help of Rufus having Gray's Ice-Make Magic in his memory.

Lucy had more happiness in her cocoa brown eyes when she saw a machine dispensing the finest desserts that anyone could ask for, and the paintings on the walls were portraying Sting doing many poses with his red Exceed named Lector. The gold reception desk at the back of the room with two golden elevators next to it appeared to be where a Mage could join the guild. Classical music being played by a violin could be heard through a speaker somewhere in the gold ceiling, and Rogue noticed his companion's smile.

Two porcelain gold statues of saber-toothed cats were on each side of Sabertooth's entrance doors, and Lucy took in the elegance of it all. While she was busy admiring the lobby of the guild, she didn't notice Sting, Orga, Rufus, and Yukino walking towards her and Rogue. The Celestial Spirit mage wondered what someone like Lucy Heartfilia could want from the guild of Sabertooth, and Yukino quickly leaped to the side when Sting ran past her.

The white dragon slayer gave Lucy a comforting hug, happy to see her visiting him, and he really hadn't expected her to show up to his guild for once. Sting also took notice of the red book that Lucy had, wondering if she figured out those new spells that had been gained in the town of Cinnabar, and he could only continue to give her a bear hug that made her shriek a bit from how tight he was making it.

"I didn't expect you to come here on our day off from training, you know. Well, I guess I can welcome you to the Sabertooth guild. It's only lost a few people since Fairy Tail won the last Grand Magic Games, but we're still pretty popular." Sting explained calmly while he still grinned at Lucy, who gently rested her head on his chest after he put her down on the ground.

Lucy replied nicely, happy that Sting gave her a warm welcome into his guild, "Thank you so much, Sting. You're really a great guy, and I like being around you. I also came here because I had to leave the Fairy Tail guild after dealing with Natsu's drama yet again."

Everyone looked a bit shocked at Lucy telling them that Natsu's drama forced her to leave the Fairy Tail guild, and she began to explain everything. She told them how Natsu kicked her off of the team like she was a piece of worthless garbage to him, and how he had spent so much more time caring for Lisanna because she was his girlfriend. She had wanted to make up with Lucy, but Natsu had a problem with that.

Sting's blue eyes widened a bit when Lucy told him that she found out that the third set of spells were used for Fire Magic, and she had used them against a fire dragon slayer like Natsu. That obviously made Sting wonder what kind of spells were being used by Lucy, since they didn't seem to be from a dragon or a god, and he wondered how strong they could be at full power without anyone getting in the way.

He could see a bit of bitterness in Lucy's eyes, possibly upset that she had to deal with drama from the guy that she used to like, and Sting had to find some way to cheer her up. She wasn't his girlfriend yet, but the white dragon slayer's idea was interesting enough to get the attention of everyone around him and Lucy. What in the world could he be thinking?

To make Lucy feel more optimistic and see the bright side of this, Sting suggested that the whole group go to the amusement park in Nimbasa Town for a day of fun. After all, how else would the master of a guild celebrate the fact that a girl who kissed him wanted to join Sabertooth? He was pretty happy about to have her in his guild, and Sting would make sure that this day was the best day that Lucy ever had.

The white dragon slayer went out the door while holding Lucy's left hand in his right hand, taking her to the northern route that led to the town of leisure, and everyone else followed Sting while smiling at the sight of him looking happy for once today. Rogue had finally figured out that Sting had been going on jobs alone to Magnolia to help Lucy become stronger, and she had been making him look a lot happier these days.

While the Sabertooth mages were headed to Nimbasa Town, Karen had appeared from the shadow of a bench. She had been impressed by Lucy now knowing Fire Magic, but the seal for Wind Magic had been broken. Two seals had been unlocked now, and Karen's master was now a little more alive in spirit. The silvery blue-haired woman smirked slightly, knowing that her plan was working, and she knew that Lucy was on the right path.

_"The young blonde maiden has unlocked two seals now, which is good. My master's power is still not at its full level, but her powers shall become restored in time. She will be proud to see someone with such prowess using her book, and then it will begin." _Karen thought to herself while just having the plan of waiting, before going into the shadows to observe Lucy a bit more.

* * *

**In Nimbasa Town…**

Lucy's cocoa brown eyes twinkled with delight when she saw that a large part of the city was an entire amusement park with its high-speed roller coaster, Ferris wheel, casinos, prize booths, photo booth, restaurants, cannons, and other attractions. This town was pretty lively, since the concession stands were also having people lining up to play games and win prizes.

Sting wanted some time alone with Lucy, and he thought that it would be a good idea for everyone to split up for a while and enjoy themselves. Rogue went to get cotton candy with Frosch and Yukino, leaving Rufus and Orga to try out the dishes at a seafood restaurant that had recently opened up. Lucy and Sting were now alone, and the blonde girl blushed a bit from thinking about going into the photo booth for her first kiss with Sting.

As the two blondes decided to just look around and start with anything for some amusement, a sudden explosion from the area where the cannons were located got their attention. Everyone gasped in shock at the smoke rising into the sky, and Lucy was even more surprised to find out that she could inhale the explosion's flames from a distance. What was going on?

Sting looked around for any signs of a person using magic to cause a dangerous prank like that, but he was even more stunned to see eight beams of lightning emerge from the location of the explosion. The yellow beams of lightning struck eight innocent people, including a little girl, and they all became constricted by the electricity when the captor lifted their lightning beams into the sky.

"What the heck is going on?" Sting asked aloud, looking shocked at the lightning seeming to be amplified with power.

A female voice exclaimed evilly in a sultry way, "All right, people. Let's really have some fun, and let the pain of my training... start!"

* * *

**How was the 9th chapter? Did you like it? Lucy has officially left Magnolia, and now she's in Castelia with Sting. The StiCy will really be in the final part of this transition arc, and I split it into three parts to not really rush things. Who is attacking the innocent people? Will Lucy have to get fierce and fiery, in order to have some fun? How will Sting react to one of her new moves? Standby for the update!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does. This story was made for fun, and not for cash. (How unfortunate.)**

* * *

**Chapter 10: Omega & Alpha, Part three**

* * *

Lucy and Sting both looked shocked from seeing all of the innocent people being held captive by the beams of electricity, feeling pain from the high voltage surrounding them, and the two mages both wondered why anyone would be doing something like this. Sting's enhanced hearing had allowed him to detect a voice talking about training, and it sounded feminine.

He couldn't believe that a wizard wielding magic would practice their skills on innocent people without showing any kind of remorse, and he knew that his fun with Lucy would have to wait. Sting gave her a confident smirk while having assurance in his charming blue eyes, letting Lucy know that this villain would definitely be stopped, and the white dragon slayer ran towards the area where the cannon had exploded.

Lucy had followed Sting, seeming worried about the enemy, and she had to wonder if this person would be extremely dangerous. That lightning looked painful to the poor people who were trapped by it, and Lucy knew that this criminal had to be stopped. She ran behind Sting, trying to keep up with him, and Lucy hoped that she could also use the fourth spell to end this battle fast. After all, she didn't want this day at the amusement park to be ruined.

The duo ran towards the billowing clouds of black smoke, and they looked stern while keeping their guard up. Lucy noticed a woman walking through the smoke with a deadly smirk on her face, and golden electricity was surrounding her body. Her electrical powers seemed to also be absorbing energy from machines and the rides in the amusement park, causing things like soda machines to dispense all the bottles and slow down the roller coaster as well. If this was some kind of prank, then it was definitely not amusing.

Sting noticed that the electricity was pretty much causing madness in the amusement park, and he also took a good look at his opponent to see exactly what he and Lucy would have to be dealing with. This woman had long blondish hair that fell to her waist, and she had violet eyes as well. She wore a simple yellow T-shirt with some blue jeans to match, and her high heels were black. Despite her looking fashionable, this woman was still an enemy to Lucy. The blonde mage narrowed her cocoa brown eyes, growling a bit while she wondered about this woman's motive.

"Well, this is pretty disappointing. I thought that everyone near the cannon had been grabbed already, unless you two are trying to stop my training. My name is Hikari, by the way." The woman said in a somewhat displeased manner, as she looked at Lucy and Sting.

Sting asked in a stern manner, clenching his fists at the sight of the people who were being shocked by Hikari's electricity, "Are you crazy or something, lady? This style of torture is training to you?"

Hikari giggled a bit while sweetly looking at her opponents, stating that practicing her moves on innocent people would make her become much more powerful while she concurrently drew in electricity like a lightning rod, and Hikari also laughed at the power of her electricity hurting the little girl that had been struck by it. The sight of a weak person being picked on like that was enough to make Lucy look pretty angry, and she opened the red spell book while fierce flames of strength had come into her eyes.

As the antagonist let Sting know that him and Lucy would get a thirty second head start to run away, since they looked weak in Hikari's eyes, she looked surprised to suddenly see Lucy's spell book start glowing with cherry red beams of light emerging from the text on the page. Lucy unleashed the fourth spell instead of starting off with the first spell of Fire Magic, and this move was known as Fire Trick. It caused a cherry red sphere of energy to be fired from Lucy's mouth, and the sphere bounced when it hit the ground and headed towards Hikari while bouncing in a zigzag motion.

She gasped a bit from seeing the ball bouncing towards her, and Hikari shot out a thin beam of lightning from her mouth to counter Lucy's attack. The collision of the two spells caused a miniature golden blast to occur, while six fiery explosions transpired as a result of the sphere bouncing six times to reach its opponent. Each explosion seemed to be more powerful and louder than the last, and Sting looked a bit surprised to see Lucy using the cover of the smoke to supposedly run away instead of fighting the enemy. What was Lucy thinking?

Sting still looked surprised, but then he figured that Lucy was trying to get some distance between the antagonist that seemed to only use short-range moves. The white dragon slayer had also noticed that Lucy's spell of Fire Magic came from her mouth, and he had to wonder if the other spells came out in the same way. If they did, then that would be perfect for a plan that he was formulating. Sting had a creative idea, but he had to get that important info from Lucy before they could even try to fight the enemy.

He explained to her in a calm tone, looking like he had an idea while they hid behind an unattended concession stand that sold cake-like confections, "All right, Lucy. This area looks safe enough. Anyway, we're no match for a user of Lightning Magic in an amusement park. She's obviously been training, and we need to formulate a good plan to save those people. I need to know about all your current spells of Fire Magic, too."

"That girl can't be forgiven for getting innocent people involved in something like that, and we're going to defeat her. All of my spells come from my mouth, Sting. Please tell me you're not thinking of attacking with the cannons or anything like that." Lucy responded calmly, having some hope in her brown eyes while she saw most of the distant smoke begin to fade away.

Sting now had his plan complete, now knowing that Lucy's spells would emerge from her mouth, and he had some very sharp ideas in his mind. They had to save all those people who were trapped before they could even think of defeating Hikari, and the white dragon slayer had noticed that the captured people were now spread apart from each other while they were all still linked to the lightning that surrounded Hikari's body. If they were like strings connected to a puppet, then wouldn't it be a great idea to cut the strings?

He told Lucy that he also asked for her to do two things for him in this battle, hoping that she would definitely do them, and Sting smiled from seeing the confidence in her eyes. The thirty seconds were now up, and that wasn't the time to think of Hikari looking for Sting and Lucy. The two mages both thought that this was now the perfect time to give quite a shock to a shocking enemy. They would definitely be giving her quite a jolt, and lightning probably wouldn't manage to strike. (Interesting puns, huh?)

* * *

**5 minutes later...**

Hikari walked around the city, keeping her guard up while she looked for her opponents, and she heard some rustling from some nearby bushes. The violet-eyed woman turned around quickly to see Sting and Lucy emerge from hiding, and she some spears of lightning at the duo. They dodged her spears, seeing them create yellow blasts of energy when they hit the ground. The antagonist also wondered why Lucy had turned to the side, not facing forward Sting quickly pointed his fingers at Hikari, causing Lucy to immediately turn straight and activate the fifth spell of Fire Magic.

This spell was known as Fiery Whip, and it made Lucy unleash a beam of fire that moved in a snake-like manner to reach its target. Hikari smirked a bit while she easily got out of the way of the attack, not even caring that it hit the lightning that had imprisoned a young woman, and the fiery explosion gave Sting some time to run away with Lucy. Hikari growled angrily at them for trying to run away from her, and she chased after her prey. What kind of plan did Sting have, anyway, and why did he need Lucy's spells to come from her mouth?

The duo simply followed the sight of lightning beams, and they stopped in front of another one that had imprisoned one of the workers in the amusement park. Hikari appeared in front of them, however, having impressive speed. She grinned evilly while firing a large beam of lightning at Sting, only for him to cancel it out with White Dragon's Holy Breath. This provided the perfect chance for Lucy to use the sixth spell of Fire Magic, and it was known as Flame Cutter. This spell simply allowed Lucy to slash at the lightning rope with long red nails that were engulfed in flames, setting it ablaze, and it was cut in an instant. The man had been freed from the lightning, and he quickly ran for cover. A side effect of this spell was that it could even be used offensively with the flames turning into volcanic liquid to burn an opponent even more.

Sting and Lucy ran away once again, quickly on route to the next beam of lightning, and Hikari groaned in frustration from seeing her opponents run away again. Lucy smiled at Sting while they were running, and she was glad to have him help her out back there. Sting smiled back in a confident manner, seeing their plan working like a charm, and the duo quickly reached the next lightning beam that imprisoned a female surfer. Hikari got in their way once again, however, and she smirked while letting them know she could move at lightning speed.

However, that did not matter one bit to Sting or Lucy. They knew that combination play wasn't supposed to work well with mages whose spells came from the mouth, most likely because of the timing and hesitation to turn the right way, but Sting got around that dilemma by making sure that Lucy would immediately turn to face the right direction for her spells to hit the lightning beams. By turning around fast and using a spell that came from the mouth, Lucy could use it with a lot more speed and a lot more precision.

Hikari charged up a large ball of electricity in her hands while she looked stern, not letting Lucy and Sting interrupt her selfish ways of training, and she quickly threw it at the two mages. However, Lucy intercepted her attack by activating the seventh move from the red spell book. This new skill was known as Flame Shield, and it caused Lucy to suddenly spin around in circles at extremely high speeds to make a large twister of fire surround herself and Sting. Hikari's attack made contact with the twister, trying to push through it, only to be absorbed at be reflected back at Hikari in the form of numerous fiery drills.

She managed to dodge the ones that hit her, not even taking note of the ones that Lucy had purposely manipulated to strike the six remaining lightning beams, and fiery explosions occurred all throughout the amusement park. Yukino and the others wondered about what in the world could be going on, and nobody had gotten hurt from Lucy's spell. She managed to inhale all the flames in the town, saving the rides as well, and Lucy quickly ran away with Sting when the fiery twister had faded away.

The antagonist exclaimed in a harsh tone, annoyance in her violet eyes as she looked pretty pissed off about what was happening, "How long do you two plan to keep on running?! If you're going to fight, just stop and face me! Besides, your aim is horrible if all those fancy spells can't even leave a single mark on me!"

Lucy was about to explain everything at clear it up for her, but Sting wanted to troll his opponent by making her turn around to see the little girl with brown hair who resembled Wendy. She was eating cotton candy while watching the battle from afar, and Hikari looked utterly shocked to see that she had somehow escaped her lightning. The violet-eyed woman gasped in amazement at the sight of her lightning beams no longer being in the town, and everyone had escaped. How in the world had they gotten free?

At that moment, she widened her eyes in disbelief when she remembered about Lucy's spells. The fire attacks that Hikari had dodged weren't even being aimed at her, and Lucy had just been distracting her while she was saving all those people. Hikari had definitely been played like a sap, stupidly thinking that her opponents had their attention on her the whole time, and Sting laughed a bit while he was impressed that his plan managed to work so well. Lucy had helped him out as well, you know.

Hikari shouted viciously with her eyes now narrowed, "You creeps! You must think I'm some stupid idiot for you to mess around with! Do you really think I'll let you make a fool out of me?! I'll show you what my electricity is all about, you jokers!"

She charged up a lot of electricity, having absorbed enough of it for one last finishing move, and Hikari put it all into her left fist. She quickly ran towards Sting, attempting to finish him off for making her look so stupid in front of everyone, but Lucy would not let Hikari lay one finger on the guy that she loved. She activated the final spell of Fire Magic, determined to finish this battle as well, and the spell was known as Fiery Fueled Flare. This spell caused a red aura to surround Lucy's body, and the aura quickly turned into a burst of cherry red flames that engulfed Lucy's body. She wasn't hurt at all, and Lucy smiled a bit from feeling so much power in this move.

Lucy ran towards Hikari, feeling herself move much faster with much more power, and Lucy quickly made this spell's power go all the way into her right fist. She struck Hikari in the face with her flame-engulfed fist, and Hikari did the same to Lucy with her lightning-engulfed fist. Both girls kept pushing the power of their attacks, not holding back, and the fierceness of their power caused their moves to combine and create a large orange maelstrom of red fire and yellow electricity. The loud explosion could be heard by everyone, meaning that one side had pushed through, but who won?

* * *

Rufus had come running towards Sting with the other members of the group, and the Memory-Make mage memorized the image of the billowing clouds of black smoke before forgetting them all to make the smoke quickly fade away. Everyone looked surprised to see Lucy and Hikari both panting heavily while they both could barely stand after taking each other's attacks like that, and they were both bruised and bloodied. The fire and lightning had made both girls have charred skin, and Lucy couldn't even hold her red spell book because of electricity surrounding it. Hikari grinned evilly, but then she fell to the ground and lost consciousness.

Lucy was about to fall backwards and hit the ground, but Sting caught her in his arms. He smiled at her while activating White Drive to heal himself and anyone that he was currently touching, so the light was making Lucy become perfectly healed like no damage had ever occurred. She blushed a bit while looking at Sting, proud that his plan worked pretty well, and Lucy knew that he was definitely the right guy for her. He had seen her as useful, something that Natsu could never see her as, and Lucy kept blushing while she got out of Sting's arms.

"Now that we saved the town and everyone is okay, can we have some fun?" She asked the white dragon slayer in a sweet manner, holding his hands in hers.

Sting replied calmly, smirking while looking at Lucy with satisfaction in his relaxed blue eyes, "Sure, Lucy. We definitely need to enjoy ourselves, especially after a battle like that."

The two mages could feel how this battle had improved their chemistry with each other, making them grow closer, and Lucy was really glad to have visited Sting today. He had actually wanted to have a day of fun with her, wanting to be around her, and their teamwork in this battle was really showing how they could work well together. Sting liked seeing Lucy looking happy like this, seeing the beautiful pink blush on her face, and he was really glad to be helping her forget the trouble that Natsu had given her earlier today.

Lucy's heart was beating happily while she looked at Sting, feeling the calmness and joy in his blue eyes, and she really loved the fact that he had returned her small feelings at the cafe. He liked being around her, loving how they could be together on jobs, and Sting really loved to make her happy. He had feelings for her, enjoying the fact that she was always supporting him in his plans, and Sting also admired the fact that Lucy wasn't so reckless with those powerful spells of Fire Magic. She was so fierce, protecting Sting, and he would look out for her as well. He was about to give her a kiss on the lips, but then the soft flapping of wings got his attention.

The white dragon slayer looked a bit annoyed at the fact that this certain cat interrupted his first official kiss with Lucy, and he saw it smirk arrogantly as it landed on Lucy's head. It was his red Exceed named Lector, and Sting had to wonder why he was here when he was supposed to be out shopping for some dinner that they would have tonight. He had probably spent all of the jewels on fish or something, but why would Lector even be here? Did he have some important business to discuss with the master of Sabertooth?

Lector told him in a calm tone while he maintained his smirk and folded his arms, "I put the dinner in your office, Master. Be sure to eat it later. Anyway, I saw you all going towards this town and I wanted to join you. Then, I saw the explosions and decided to just stay away and let you handle it. Sting-kun, even if they wouldn't let you on a ride, I know that you demolished the people who must've cut in front of you!"

Sting replied nicely while his eyes shifted from Lector to Lucy, "That wasn't me, Lector. It was actually Lucy Heartfilia, the girl who wields keys and a spell book."

Lucy could feel Lector standing on her head, and she slowly picked him up before smiling at the sight of such a cute red cat. Lucy hugged Lector tightly, seeing him to be just as cute as Happy and Carla, and the red Exceed gasped for air. That prompted the blonde mage to cease the happy hug, not wanting to suffocate Lector, and Lucy's stomach suddenly let out a loud growl that made Sting laugh. She was obviously hungry after having such a heated and electrified fight with Hikari, and Sting suggested that the newly formed trio have lunch and some fun now.

* * *

**10 minutes later...**

After finding an abandoned picnic table on the grassy part of the park, Lucy sat under the shade of a nearby tree with Sting and Lector. Rogue and the others had also joined their friends, and everyone was mostly curious about what had happened earlier with Hikari. Sting had asked Lucy to have a strong amount of confidence in that battle, and he had also asked her to have the heart of a mage who could protect everyone. She had been getting stronger, no doubt, and Sting was happy to see Lucy biting into a large cheeseburger while she sat next to him.

The red spell book was still on the table, continuing to have electricity surrounding it, and even a Lightning God Slayer couldn't touch the book without getting electrocuted. If the spells weren't of a dragon or a god, then where had the languages and types of magic originated from? Lucy had hoped that the book wasn't permanently damaged or something, and Yukino also looked concerned about it. What was going on with the book, and would it still listen to Lucy? Could something be happening from within it?

Rufus even tried using his Memory-Make Magic to get the yellow electricity off of the book, but that also had failed to work. Suddenly, the yellow lightning began to change into a yellow aura in front of everyone's eyes. The book opened itself up to a new section, making Lucy very curious about what was going to transpire, and the aura had entered into the spell book! It began to make a new set of pages all have a yellow glow, and some spells were being written in the yellow text of what seemed to be a fourth language.

There were also unreadable words in saffron-colored text, meaning that Lucy couldn't read these spells at all, and the blonde female was careful to not silently or actually read any of the spells that were appearing. Yukino had taken notice of the red spell book changing to the color of yellow, and she really had to wonder if that was a book from the Celestial Spirit World. Lucy found herself able to absorb the electricity of the arcade building near the picnic area, and many game geeks began to complain about the electrical shortage.

It was all being sent into her hands, giving her some energy, and Lucy was also thankful that the backup generator of the arcade had kicked in to satisfy its customers. While that made Lucy let out a sigh of relief, she became a bit startled from seeing a white card appear on the first page of this new magic. The message was once again in one of the olden languages, but Lucy was able to clearly read it. Sting had to wonder what those characters even said, and the message may not even be something that Lucy wanted to know.

"Welcome, blonde maiden and master of the book. You must know another rule, and I think you are ready for it. When an opponent's type of magic should ever come into contact with the book that can only be used by a pure and innocent soul, that magic of opposition may come to recognize you as a friend. You may accept it and have it join you, if you wish." Lucy read in a calm manner while smiling softly, before looking at the book and shaking her head in approval for the new magic to join her arsenal.

Sting told her in a relaxed manner while he turned to face her, looking into her cocoa brown eyes, "Speaking of new members joining things, we want you to join our guild for real. I like having you around, Lucy. You're so awesome, and you really do deserve better than Natsu."

Before Lucy could even reply, Sting gently pressed his lips against hers in an affectionate manner. He was giving her a soft kiss, most likely to repay her for giving him that accidental kiss back at the cafe, and Sting had to show his feelings for a great girl that helped him save the whole amusement park. Lucy blushed cherry pink from feeling Sting give her such a soft and relaxed kiss, and her happiness was growing warm like a beautiful blaze as she returned the kiss to him. He really was a much nicer guy than Natsu, and Lucy could now tell that fate made her have an end in Fairy Tail truly have a lovely new beginning in Sabertooth.

* * *

**How was the 10th chapter? Did you like it? Sting and Lucy have officially had their first kiss, and their chemistry has greatly grown! Sorry if anything seemed rushed, by the way. Lucy now has a new guild to be in, and a new type of magic. However, she won't use it in the next chapter. Anyway, how will things go tomorrow in Sabertooth? Will Lucy see a familiar face of friendship when she least expects it? Will a certain team in Fairy Tail begin to have their friendship broken, after someone is fed up with the attitude of someone else? Standby for the update!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does. This story was made for fun, and not for cash. (How unfortunate.)**

* * *

**Chapter 11: Many Ways To Start Off A Morning**

* * *

The following day, Lucy had woken up in a bedroom that looked similar to her former apartment in the town of Magnolia. She could hear the bluebirds happily chirping while they had landed on the balcony outside of her room, and the sunlight shined its warming rays on her face to assist the blond mage in fully awakening to begin a brand new day. This was her room at the guild of Sabertooth in the town of Castelia, having already been furnished with a bed, a desk, a bookcase, a commode, a dresser, a table with three chairs, a coffee table and an armchair.

When Lucy was in the Fairy Tail guild, Sting had always taken her back to her apartment before he would have to go back on the boat to Castelia Town. The white dragon slayer had memorized every detail of Lucy's bedroom when he would look through the windows, and Sting really was confident that he could make the large room feel like home to her. Of course, it wouldn't have that Fairy Tail feel to it. Lucy was a bit amazed by the fact that Sting had taken care of almost everything for her, and she smiled a bit while thinking about him.

Sting could be a cocky guy who liked to show off his talents for Lucy on some of the jobs that they did, but he could also be quite a smart guy when it came to forming a plan for Lucy's spells to effectively take down enemies. After all, his scheme against Hikari in the amusement park had gone really well. Thanks to believing in him while also having a strong will of her own, Lucy was able to use those five spells of Fire Magic while not much difficulty was involved. Her level of magical power had grown a bit more since last time, and the blonde mage smiled happily while she sat up in the bed.

Lucy removed the pink comforter off of her body, and she raised her arms high above her head. She began to not only think about the book, but also about her ten Golden Zodiac Gate Keys. She had been using them on parts of the job that did not require any support from the book's spells, and she also knew the benefits of the Celestial Spirit Magic. If she became stronger, her Celestial Spirits would also become stronger. However, using them to fight in many battles would just not feel right at all for Lucy.

She used to rely on them all the time when she couldn't do much in some fights, and summoning them in battle would really just remind her of her times in Fairy Tail with Natsu and his team. She still couldn't believe that he had the nerve to assume that she was a weakling on the day that she left Fairy Tail, and he had been acting quite egotistical while he loved Lisanna. Natsu had once been seen by Lucy as a guy with so much power that couldn't be matched, but now he had quite a rude mouth that couldn't be shut.

The blonde mage slowly got out of her bed to see that her bedroom came with her very own bathroom, and Lucy was glad that this was one room that Natsu couldn't break into. She sighed a bit while walking towards the bathroom t start her day off with a hot bath, and the look of irritation came into her cocoa brown eyes. She wanted to forget her past and move on, not wanting to even to think about what could've happened with Natsu's team in the guild of Fairy Tail if Erza had not told her to leave, but it had only been one day since that drama had transpired. Memories couldn't be rushed out so easily, you know.

She looked a bit stressed while unbuttoning her pink pajama shirt, before removing it with her pink pajama pants as well, and Lucy had to get Natsu and Lisanna out of her head. She was now in the Sabertooth guild with Sting, a great guy who had reciprocated the feelings that she had for him, and Lucy had to face the facts. While she really liked Sting, the bad memories of Natsu. However, bad things in her past did not have to slam her down in the present or in the future. The dramatic pages of her life were written into her very own book of destiny, but the next set of pages would be filled with peace.

After taking off her clothes and closing the bathroom door, Lucy turned the left faucet for hot water to run from the pipe and fill up the bathtub. While she had her thoughts mostly swirling around Natsu and Sting, she really couldn't stop thinking about the spell book as well. It had turned yellow from the electricity generated by Hikari, absorbing what seemed to be Lightning Magic, and the magic had wanted to join her like it was one of her new nakama. If the book and the types of magic were linked so closely, then what kind of book was Lucy using?

It clearly was not an ordinary spell book, seeing as it required a pure and innocent soul to be able to read it, and the book itself seemed to have all of its spells in foreign languages of olden times. Lucy didn't know this, but she wasn't actually reading and translating the words with her mind. The book was reacting to her emotions, the power in her heart, and all of her strength had let her access many of the book's abilities. She always had to abide by its list of rules as well, but they weren't unfair to her in any way.

As the hot water filled the tub to its brim, Lucy turned the faucet for the water to cease its descent from the pipe. She stepped into the bathtub, feeling the heat from the water when she began to sit down, and Lucy also noticed that a copious amount of bubbles had appeared in the water. She blushed and looked nervous, hoping that she hadn't passed gas, and the blonde mage didn't even realize that the steam, heat, bubbles, and water were reacting to her Fire Magic. This type of magic could be called upon by Lucy for some fancy attacks, and it could even be summoned by heat to give her a relaxing hot bath.

Lucy let out a happy sigh, feeling her muscles click and pop while she stretched her body out in the tub, and she blushed a light shade of pink from feeling the hot water plant soft kisses on her skin. She was now going to have a life in the Sabertooth guild, finally getting to have much more time with Sting, and Lucy would also get to meet some of her new teammates as well. She would also be getting her new guild's insignia from Sting today, fully symbolizing that she had joined his guild, and the blonde mage felt much happier to see that her bad times were presumably disappearing.

While she relaxed in the water and was enjoying her first morning in the Sabertooth guild, how was her old guild doing without her? It had only been one day since she left all of those people behind, and some of the guild members weren't even around when the drama between Lucy and Natsu had ignited to that fiery boiling point. They probably wouldn't even be informed by Erza about what happened, since she wasn't the type of person who wanted tension to keep flaring between people. However, would today be full of surprises?

* * *

**At the Fairy Tail guild...**

Lisanna had just finished changing Natsu's bandages while he was in the guild's infirmary, having bandages to cover up the bruises on his face, arms, chest, and legs, and Lisanna had also let Gray check up on the fire dragon slayer. Erza had come along as well, not to check on his condition, but the scarlet-haired mage was really disappointed in Natsu for starting a fight with Lucy and saying such horrible things that he probably couldn't take back at this point. Erza also hated the fact that she had to kick out her best friend, too.

Gray had also been displeased with Natsu for causing that stupid drama with Lucy, knowing full well that she had already been saddened by him kicking her off of the team for being weak, and the ice mage could not believe that the fire dragon slayer just did not know when to keep his mouth shut. If he had not been so rude to Lucy, she would probably still be in Fairy Tail. She didn't even enjoy his presence, not wanting to see that dense idiot again, and Gray really wanted to freeze Natsu solid to really put his attitude on ice.

However, out of the four people that had been very upset with Natsu, Lisanna had to be the most displeased with his behavior. She wanted to become friends with Lucy, wanting to be on good terms with her while also not being enemies, but Natsu had completely ruined everything. He wouldn't even let the two girls be friends because he deemed Lucy as a weakling who always had to rely on the strong people, and he had been such a jerk to the blonde mage. He had acted so egotistical as well, and Lucy definitely put Natsu in his place when he had so brash to her.

The guild hadn't exactly been in full attendance when the fight had transpired, so people like Gajeel and Wendy would have no idea that Lucy had left the Fairy Tail guild. Erza didn't want to have to make her leave, and she looked a bit saddened while knowing that she had to do what was best for her friend. Lucy didn't deserve to be in a place where she wasn't going to be happy, not deserving to be in a place where she would be filled with sadness, and Erza had to let her go. This was all Natsu's fault, however.

"I still can't believe that a failure like Lucy managed to put me in this condition! If it was Laxus, I'd have no problem with it! I can take him on anytime, but I want to crush Lucy for roasting me with fire! I eat the stuff, so how the hell did I lose?!" Natsu exclaimed angrily while flames began to surround his body while he breathed heavily, only to see the flames burn out quickly before he felt intense pain once again.

Gray sighed in an annoyed manner, narrowing his dark blue eyes at the fire dragon slayer, and he almost felt like making a hammer out of ice to hit Natsu on the head with it. After what he did to Lucy for Erza to have to make her leave Fairy Tail, was he seriously still thinking about himself and being a total idiot? He had been so physically and verbally abusive to Lucy, always bullying her and calling her names, so now he was acting like there was no blame to be put on him? On top of that, how could he call Lucy weak when she beat him with his own element?

The ice mage responded coldly, foldling his arms while looking down at Natsu as he stood across from his bed with a stern glare on his face, "You really have to be kidding me, flame brain. Even after taking all that damage and being burnt badly by Lucy's flames, you still don't get it? She is strong, and you picked the wrong girl to piss off. Think about what you'll say before you actually say it."

Natsu looked angered by his rival taking Lucy's side on this, defending her like she actually mattered, and Natsu refused to accept the loss that he had experienced. He just could not believe that Lucy was strong without her spirits, and he hadn't really cared about the book that she wielded. The fire dragon slayer thought it was just stupid thing in her hands, and he even bet that it was some kind of unknown Celestial Spirit Key. Either way, he still refused to acknowledge that he had been beaten fairly in a fight against Lucy.

"Gray, she is lower than me! You've never seen Lucy win any fights by herself, have you? She can't do anything on her own! I am in a higher class of power, and failures like Lucy hide behind Celestial Spirits!" Natsu shouted back at the ice mage, refusing to accept any of this, and his pride really was getting in the way of him understanding anything from a different point of view.

Erza had fierceness in her brown eyes, really miffed by Natsu's words about her friend, and she really hated how Natsu had said that Lucy was lower than him. If she was so much weaker than him, then how did she have such great control over three spells of Fire Magic and seem to be able to work well with her attacks when it seemed like she had seen them for the first time? No other mage could do that, and Erza still seemed a bit impressed by the fact that Lucy ate Natsu's flames to power up her own moves.

She told Natsu in a harsh tone while glaring at him from his left side, anger in her eyes as her fists were clenched, "Just how cruel and rotten can you be, Natsu? Lucy was kicked off the team in such a rude way by you, and you still continued to bully her because you assumed she was weak! Even if Lucy is in a lower class than you, she's not a failure! How does it feel to be wounded by the person you were mocking? Don't ever take Lucy lightly, you understand me?!"

Gray and Erza were both upset with Natsu for still thinking of only himself, not even trying to see this whole thing from a different perspective that was wider than his own, and both mages left the room in silence while leaving a few heavy footsteps behind. Natsu scoffed at them for yelling at him like he was the main bad guy here, which he certainly was, and his attitude hadn't just been affecting them. It was actually putting quite a strain on the entire team, his arrogance and recklessness causing the discord, and Lisanna gulped a bit while having regret in her blue eyes.

She had seen Natsu as such a great and happy guy when she first returned to Fairy Tail, but then he started to change after ousting Lucy from the team. He loved Lisanna a lot, she definitely realized that, but the fire dragon slayer would sometimes have kisses with her that weren't even formed out of love or romance. Whenever Lucy would pass by them, he would kiss her. Whenever she was alone at a nearby table, Natsu would make Lisanna be in her bra and panties while they would cuddle and kiss. She would blush happily and be even happier when they went to his house on some nights, but it didn't feel like love.

It felt more like he was showing off his romance with Lisanna to just make Lucy jealous at any chance he got, trying to emotionally tear down the blonde girl, and Lisanna didn't want Lucy to end up hating her. She seemed like a really nice person who could be friendly at times, and the two girls actually came close to being friends. However, based on how Natsu acted yesterday with all of his heckling and boasting, Lisanna couldn't take it anymore. She hated seeing Lucy suffer abuse, but she did something about it. If she wanted to have some peace in this guild, then Lisanna had to pick one side or the other. Since Natsu's pride and arrogance seemed t be growing more than their love, the white-haired mage knew what she had to do.

"Natsu, listen. We need to talk. I'm glad that you think I'm strong for your team and that we have a great love, but you've been acting so arrogant and rude towards Lucy. I know she was my replacement, but she's still a person who deserves some respect. Even if she is weak, or was until yesterday, I want to be on good terms with her. Also, kissing me to hurt her is totally not a good thing. It's like you're just using me as a tool to make her feel bad, and that's not right. I want a fair relationship." Lisanna explained in the nicest way possible, trying not to verbally punch Natsu in the gut like how Gray and Erza had done.

The fire dragon slayer asked in a shocked tone, his eyes starting to widen in shock, "What are you saying, Lisanna?"

She told him in an apologetic manner, placing her left hand on his right shoulder while she sat on a stool near the right side of the bed, "If you're really the team leader, and you can't agree with what the rest of us are saying to you, then there is no team anymore. If I'm only here for you to make Lucy jealous, then there's no love between us at all. You and your pride make a better couple, it seems. We're through, Natsu. Goodbye."

Lisanna got up from the stool and left the room, before closing the door behind her. She didn't want to have to end her relationship with Natsu, but his arrogance and harsh demeanor towards Lucy were really making him have an attitude that was too big and breaking apart like a large ship that had hit extremely dense rocks. He was definitely sinking to being a lowly jerk, and Lisanna looked a bit depressed while tears formed in her eyes. Natsu had definitely made some bad choices, and now he was mentally too far gone for her to reach.

* * *

**Elsewhere...**

Wendy and Carla had been on their way to the Fairy Tail guild, but they had decided to check up on Lucy before anything else was to be done. The duo had received a large basket of chocolate cookies on a job that involved delivering sweets to the people in the faraway town of Cerulean, and Wendy thought that it would be nice to share these cookies with Lucy. She hadn't seen the blonde mage in quite a while, and they also hadn't been talking much. That certainly wasn't good for any kind of friendship, right?

She had stopped by Lucy's apartment to give her the sweets that would probably cheer her up, and Wendy smiled a bit as she softly knocked on the door. At first, there was no response. Could Lucy be busy showering or something? It wasn't like her to not give any kind of loud response to let someone know that she was in the apartment, and Wendy knew that Lucy would definitely love to have her over for anything. The blonde mage was always friendly to her, and the girls would always help each other out.

The young sky dragon slayer still heard no response, and she knocked on the door once again. Where in the world could Lucy be? Wendy was beginning to look a bit worried, and Carla also looked concerned. They knew that Lucy would at least leave a note or a sign that she was out somewhere, and then the girls heard the sounds of a certain blue Exceed eating something from within the apartment. The window had also been opened up, prompting Wendy and Carla to go inside. It was fitting to find a window of opportunity, right? (It's a somewhat obvious pun, I know.)

They went inside to find that the lights were on, clearly having been turned on by someone, and Happy sat on the couch while he ate a chocolate and cherry-layered cream cake that Lucy had left behind in the fridge. He was joyfully eating the dessert, either trying to cheer himself up or not have a care in the world, and Happy's noisy eating had made Wendy and Carla look over the couch to see him enjoying the Black Forest gateau. (That's the name of the delicious cake, if you did not know that.)

"Breaking into Lucy's house when she is away just tells me that you really lack manners, Happy!" Carla told him in a scolding manner, having a reproving look on her face while she flew on to Wendy's head.

The blue Exceed became a bit startled, flying up into the air to see Carla and Wendy, and he quickly tried to come up with an excuse for eating the cake from Lucy's fridge. At that moment, he also remembered that it wasn't Lucy's fridge anymore. This wasn't even her residence anymore, since she had let Happy know that she was leaving the Fairy Tail guild to go and begin a new life somewhere else, and he looked a bit disappointed to be in front of Wendy and Carla right now. How could he break this news to them?

After all, they hadn't heard about what happened yesterday between Lucy and Natsu. Happy knew that the Fairy Tail guild now had enough tension and sadness, and he didn't want to bring more to his friends. He couldn't tell them that Lucy had boarded the S.S. Aqua to the town of Castelia, and he also could not tell them that she left the guild because of Natsu treating her so horribly. Nobody else needed to deal with all the stress, and the story would really be better if it was heard from Lucy's point of view. She experienced the whole story, after all.

Happy thought that the secret was perfectly safe between them, but he just had to tempt fate. He had gone into Lucy's apartment with the intent on getting some food, but he hadn't exactly checked out his other surroundings. Lucy had left a note on her desk, addressing it to Wendy, and the little azure-haired girl took notice of what the blue Exceed was looking at. This note probably contained some great information for Wendy, having been written earlier than the time that it was meant for, and she wondered what Lucy wanted to tell her.

After walking over to the desk with curiosity in her brown eyes, Wendy picked up the note and read aloud in a calm tone, "Dear Wendy, this is your friend Lucy. By the time you have found this note, I will have left for the town of Castelia to begin my new life. I want to be free from the drama that Natsu is causing me, and a fresh start will help me do that. We must part ways for now, but I hope to see you again at the Grand Magic Games or any event that makes our paths cross. Be good, ok? Your friend forever, Lucy."

At that moment, Wendy widened her eyes in shock at the revelations in Lucy's letter. Not only had she left Fairy Tail, but Lucy had also left the town of Magnolia. She was now in Castelia Town, the place where Sabertooth resided, and Wendy knew that those people were the rivals of Fairy Tail. The Sabertooth guild used to be the strongest guild in Fiore, but then Fairy Tail took that title away from them in the Grand Magic Games of X791. If Lucy was there, it wouldn't hurt to just pay her a visit. Wendy was her friend, after all.

The maiden of the sky ran out of Lucy's apartment with Happy and Carla flying right behind her, and Wendy really wanted to see Lucy again. She wanted to make sure that Lucy was okay after going through what Natsu had done to her, and Wendy knew that Lucy would eventually be strong enough to beat him. She kept running down to the harbor at a quick pace, not going to miss the S.S. Aqua's next voyage to Castelia Town, and Wendy had also brought the large wooden basket of chocolate chip cookies for Lucy to enjoy some of them.

* * *

**Back at the Sabertooth guild...**

After finishing her shower, Lucy had changed into some clothes that she had brought with her from her apartment back in the town of Magnolia. She had traveled down the left elevator, seeing its golden doors open slowly for her, and Lucy noticed that the Sabertooth guild was definitely not like the Fairy Tail guild. There weren't any early morning brawls transpiring over utter nonsense, and the guild members just seemed to be sitting at tables in the guildhall while they chatted with each other about various things.

Lucy wore a simple green top with some blue jeans, and her flat shoes were black. She also had her blonde hair in a ponytail on the right side, accessorizing with a red ribbon as well, and the blonde mage did look quite fashionable this morning. She also had the yellow spell book clutched tightly in her right arm, and Lucy looked around in the guildhall to see that Sting and the other members who were on Team Sabertooth were located at a table near the waffle-dispensing machine. She heard her stomach let out a loud growl once again, so wouldn't it be convenient to join her new friends for breakfast?

She made her way over the waffle machine first to get something to eat, and Lucy also put the yellow spell book on the counter. She grabbed a golden plate near the waffle machine, and put it under the large dispenser. She pressed a green button, causing a stack of seven waffles to elegantly fall in a perfect stack on to her plate, and then Lucy noticed that a blue button was flashing for a few moments. She pressed it out of curiosity, and hot maple syrup came from the dispenser to give her waffles a pretty great taste. Lucy's eyes were filled with amazement from seeing this, and she also pressed an orange button to make a square of butter complete her breakfast.

The blonde mage carried her plate over to the table where her friends were located, and she noticed that her running speed had gotten faster than before. That was mostly because she now had three full types of magic at her disposal, and the Lightning Magic probably also had non-spell abilities as well. As Lucy pulled up a chair to the table, unaware that she also pointed the index finger of her left hand over at the book, she made a harmless beam of yellow lightning hit the book and surround it in a sphere of energy. It acted like a string connected to her finger, and Lucy had brought the yellow spell book over to her chair by making the lightning sphere float through the air.

"Good morning, Lucy. I see that you've decided to start off your morning with hotness, even though you just used some lightning. That's pretty hot, too." Sting told her in calm tone, smirking in a cocky manner at the thought of going up against her new type of magic that had allied with her.

As she giggled a bit at his flattery, having happiness in her beautiful cocoa brown eyes, Lucy replied in a happy manner, "Thank you, Sting! I'm glad to have this new magic with me, and getting my guild mark will be just as awesome! You can decide whenever you want to give it to me, though."

Sting smiled at Lucy's response, glad that she was enjoying her first official morning in the Sabertooth guild, and he really liked how she always dressed in such a stylish manner. Her personality was so sweet as well, having such a high amount of positive energy today, and that certainly went well with Sting's confidence. He saw Lucy as one of his greatest mages in the guild already, despite not showing off much to everyone else, and Sting wondered if her lightning was just as strong as his light.

Rogue was also happy to know that someone as nice as Lucy was joining Sabertooth, and he could guess that all the fiery explosions came from her when the group visited the amusement park in Nimbasa Town. That immense level of magical power was really something to sense, and the shadow dragon slayer had never seen a spell book that could change colors or have such unorthodox spells. Even Natsu didn't have a spell of Fire Dragon Slayer Magic that could make a maelstrom of fire combine with another of electricity to create so much power, so what kinds of spells was Lucy using?

Frosch smiled happily at Lucy, looking pretty carefree, and then the green Exceed's eyes shifted from the brown-eyed girl to her yellow book. It began to faintly pulsate with a saffron glow, making Frosch look a bit surprised, and it wasn't the only one who witnessed that moment of amazement. Yukino picked up the yellow book while Lucy was talking with Sting to find out more information about the towns near Castelia, and the woman with light blue hair began to open Lucy's book with some curiosity about it.

Much to her surprise, the languages were far too old to be read by anyone in this lifetime. Yukino flipped through some of the pages, seeing the four different languages in their different colors, and the weird types of text made her wonder how Lucy could read this. These languages weren't even in the Celestial Spirit World, since Yukino also had borrowed a few books from there, and she wondered what that pulsating glow had been. She turned to the fourth section of the book, the section with Lightning Magic, and three lines of yellow text had been written.

Yukino closed the book and put it back on the spot where Lucy had placed it, and she really wondered who would make a strange book like that. If the book was not in a modern language that anyone could understand, how could Lucy read it? Had she extensively studied ancient languages to know exactly what these spells were talking about? Her mastery over so many spells had really impressed Yukino, seeing Lucy as two threats in one with a spell book and many golden keys, making her smile a bit at the fact that a much kinder person had taken Minerva's place.

As Lucy was now eating her waffles, tasting the delicious golden treat with sweet syrup added, the guild's entrance doors suddenly opened up to reveal a familiar face to her. She turned her head to see that Wendy Marvell had come to the Sabertooth guild, and she was not alone at all. Happy had arrived at the guild with Carla, still trying to flirt with the cat that he loved the most, and Lector smirked a bit while flying towards Carla as he pushed Happy out of the way. Even cats could have little rivalries, you know.

"Lucy-san! Your letter was right! You're here!" Wendy exclaimed happily, delighted to see her best friend once again.

She replied kindly while running to give Wendy a big hug, "It's been such a long time, Wendy! I haven't seen you in a whole month!"

As the two girls shared their hug of friendship, the light from the guild's entrance doors being opened had created shadows. They were certainly perfect for a certain strange woman with silvery-blue hair, and she came out of a table's shadow before she hid under it again for no one to really see her come out of nowhere. Karen had been keeping watch on both Fairy Tail and Sabertooth, gathering as much information as she could, and the shadows also informed her that Lucy's spell book had changed color once again.

_"The third seal has been broken, and she has learned how to earn the respect of someone else's Caster Magic. My master could also do that as well, having been a pretty great person who had me as her assistant, and now I have truly found the perfect young maiden for her. Of course, for the maiden, I must also hope that something interesting to observe her abilities even more." _She thought to herself in a calm manner, smirking with yet another scheme in mind.

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**How was the 11th chapter? Did you like it? Sorry about having a lack of StiCy in this chapter, but it was made to really develop some other characters. Natsu and his team have broken up, and Lisanna has broken up with him! Will he ever get her back? Will Sting and Lucy test out the new spells in the yellow book? What does Gajeel tell the guild when he gets back from training? Standby for the update!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does. This story was made for fun, and not for cash. (How unfortunate.)**

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**Chapter 12: Fixing One Bond & Improving Another**

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Wendy's arrival to the guild of Sabertooth had certainly been a surprise to Lucy, but she was happy to see her young friend from Fairy Tail show up for a visit while Happy and Carla had accompanied her. The two girls did have some catching up to do, having not seen each other in an entire month, and Lucy had also hoped that Wendy would be okay with her decision to join Sabertooth. She obviously would not be coming back to her old guild anytime soon, due to Natsu being so rude to her, but what choice did Lucy have?

Sting had also narrowed his blue eyes at the young sky dragon slayer, hoping this wasn't some setup by Natsu to gain information about the rival guild, and Wendy smiled slightly while telling him that she truly was only here to check on her friend. Wendy had missed Lucy, and she had also heard about the drama from Happy. Natsu had been causing many problems in the Fairy Tail guild, and Wendy could clearly see why Lucy had joined another guild. Her new life seemed to be going pretty well, even though this was her first official day in Sabertooth.

Lucy had gotten a plate of waffles for Wendy to eat, as the blue-haired girl pulled up a chair to have a place at the table, and she also informed her friend about the new spell book that she had received from Karen. It really made both girls curious, wondering why Lucy was the destined person for the book of many strange spells, and Lucy easily managed to understand the words in yellow text on some of the pages. A few spells appeared to have been written, most likely as a sign that the book was trying to tell Lucy something, but she refused to read it aloud.

After all, even the first spell of Fire Magic had proven to be pretty dangerous against a fire dragon slayer like Natsu. This new type of magic, presumably the Lightning Magic that Lucy had gained after her fierce battle against Hikari, could be pretty deadly. She didn't want to accidentally blow up the entire Sabertooth guild with her weakest spell of Lightning Magic, and showing too much strength on the first day would probably make her seem arrogant in the eyes of the other mages who would not know what was going on.

She had to test out these new moves in a safe location, also hoping that the place would have the conditions met for Lightning Magic to work, but where in the world could Lucy go without causing much damage? She didn't want to test them out on a beach or in a park, since innocent people might get badly hurt, and she had a bit of frustration in her cocoa brown eyes while explaining her dilemma to her new friends. Orga smirked arrogantly while wanting to have a battle of lightning against lightning, but Sting stepped in with a cocky grin as he chuckled a bit.

"There's no need to worry about a thing, Lucy. I'm going to be your opponent today, and consider this as your entrance exam into the guild of Sabertooth. Just because I like you, I won't go easy on you. After all, higher difficulty will actually help you get better in the long run." The white dragon slayer explained to her in a calm tone, still looking cocky at the thrill of getting to experience this new magic firsthand.

Lucy replied happily while eating her waffles, her cocoa brown eyes beginning to twinkle with the joy of testing out these new spells, "You won't regret having me in your guild, Sting! I'm going to come at you with everything that I've got today! Well, only the Lightning Magic. This book has many rules, and you've seen how conditional it can be at times."

As she sat back down, Lucy could see Sting looking like he was definitely in the mood for this. He wanted to see how much strength she had, but he wouldn't be a rude jerk about it like how Natsu had been. He would be training with her, assisting her in getting better, and Sting also wanted to see how strong he had gotten as well. After all, the girl that he loved had managed to beat the dragon slayer who was considered to be his greatest rival. Sting didn't want to get shown up by either of them, especially since he was now a guild master.

He had also informed Lucy that the Grand Magic Games would be transpiring in a few months from now, determining fairly which guild had the right to earn the title of the best guild in the country of Fiore, but Rogue gave Sting a stern look while reminding him that the masters of the many guilds were not allowed to participate in the tournament. That really made Sting feel discouraged, having wanted to get some redemption for what happened in the tag battle when he and Rogue couldn't even defeat Natsu when he was alone, and Sting sighed a bit while looking down.

However, Rufus countered Rogue's little statement by reminding him and Sting that there were other competitions in Fiore to determine different things. There was even a baking competition for people ho enjoyed cooking, and the winner would get 10 million jewels while winning a trophy for their guild. Even if Sabertooth was not able to win in everything, they could earn wins in other things. That seemed totally fair for them, right? At least they wouldn't be looking like jerks, with Minerva not able to be on their team anymore.

Rufus gave Lucy a kind look while giving her an explanation on something known as the Grand Fiore League, and it was a competition that was different from the Grand Magic Games. There were no strange events involved, no major points for winners while losers got nothing, but there were teams. It was like a tournament of 128 people, involving seven rounds, and the winner would receive a fantastic trophy for their guild while being known as the Champion Mage in the entire country of Fiore. The winner could even challenge the Elite Four and the Champion after the main tournament was done, if they wanted to really win it all.

While Sting had taken Lucy's concerns about safety with the spells into consideration, a small smile formed on his face when he thought of the perfect place to train and help Lucy work with that Lightning Magic. Besides, she would probably like the plan that Sting had in mind. He was going to give her a pretty good fight, but he also knew how to give a girl a very good time as well. Sting had seen that look of ambition in Lucy's cocoa brown eyes, seeing her desire to become much stronger, and work wasn't good without some fun included.

When everyone had finished eating their breakfast, Sting got up from the table and ran out of Sabertooth's entrance doors while having that cocky smirk on his face. He had ran so fast, prompting everyone else to look a bit startled by him suddenly leaving the guild, and Lucy was the first person to run after him. She had wondered what he was up to, since Sting was looking pretty confident, and Lucy hoped that her training with Sting would be great. She was followed by everyone else, including Wendy, and they knew how excited Sting could get. While Sabertooth seemed to be having a good morning, how were things going in Fairy Tail?

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**At the Fairy Tail guild...**

Natsu had stubbornly gotten out of his bed in the guild's infirmary, burning off all of his bandages, and he still could not believe that Lisanna had broken up with him just because of how he had treated Lucy. The fire dragon slayer had thought that Lisanna would be perfectly okay with him taunting Lucy and bugging her, but the white-haired mage was clearly more mature than that. She wasn't the type of person to us others to make someone jealous, and Lisanna pretty much hated Natsu right now for how he acted.

Gray and Erza had even tried their hardest to get some sense into his dense head, but their efforts had fallen on deaf ears. Natsu didn't really care about what they had to say, not even bothering to take any time to look at this whole situation from a different point of view, and he thought that his opinion was the only one that had any real meaning to it. He was so arrogant to think that his view was perfect, acting like he was the one with all of the smarts, and Natsu's bad attitude was really not making a good impression on anybody.

He actually thought that Lucy and Erza were just playing around earlier when the scarlet-haired mage told the brown-eyed girl to leave the Fairy Tail guild for the drama to stop, thinking that Lucy was a weak crybaby who would just be back soon from crying under a tree, but he would really be proven wrong if they ever crossed paths again. Fate had made the blonde mage take a path that Natsu couldn't follow at all, and it had also severed his relationship with Lisanna to teach him a lesson about being too proud to admit when he was wrong.

The fire dragon slayer sat down at a table that was far away from the other members of his former team, and they all looked at him with harsh glares. Lisanna had regret in her blue eyes, though, and she really just couldn't be mean to Natsu. She didn't want the conflict to escalate any further than this point, and all Natsu had to do was apologize. He would also have to change his ways as well, especially if he wanted to get Lisanna back, and Natsu definitely had to turn all of his arrogance into a big plan of intelligence.

He knew that the Grand Magic Games would be taking place in a few months, determining which guild would be the strongest in Fiore, and Natsu knew that Fairy Tail could win once again. He thought that taking down everyone in Sabertooth would be a great way to earn Lisanna's love back, but that really wouldn't solve anything. If he wasn't doing something out of the little bit of goodness in his heart, then how could Lisanna ever trust him again? He really owed her an apology, too, since he treated her more like a pawn than a true girlfriend.

Natsu asked his old team in a worried tone, walking over to them with his plan to get Lisanna back in a relationship with him, "Guys, are you going to hate me forever? I mean, come on. All I did was just taunt Lucy, and you had to get on my case about it like she deserved to be a part of my team. I just made a mistake, and you guys have to admit that you can't do a job without me. That's why we became a team, right? Lisanna, you even liked me."

Lisanna had been smiling a bit when it sounded like Natsu was going to apologize, but his intentional thoughts had certainly not agreed with the spoken words from his mouth. It sounded like he wanted the team to get back together, but then he kept on making the same mistake that caused Erza and Gray to menacingly glare at him. He wanted to have a team, but Natsu was making it all about him. He was acting like the victim in his conflict had been him instead of Lucy, angering Erza, but his words really got Lisanna mad when he had said they couldn't do a job without him. He basically called them weak, when he had ironically been beaten by someone who he thought was weak.

"You know, the key word in your selfish speech actually is 'liked'. I actually used to like you, Natsu, until you started being such a jerk to Lucy while not even focusing much on our relationship at all. Your pride also got in the way, too. You can't act like a huge jerk and expect us to just forgive you, you know. You are really an idiot. You blame Lucy for the drama, but you caused it first. After all this, you even call us weak without you. You just can't see how your mistakes impacted our relationship, and I don't see a future for us at all." Lisanna explained to him with coldness in her blue eyes, seriousness in her voice, making Erza seem really impressed.

The fire dragon slayer felt like every single word from Lisanna had just stabbed him in the chest, having never heard her talk so coldly to him in such an icy manner, and the feeling of rejection really did make a blow to his ego. Natsu thought that he was truly invincible, stronger than everyone else, but he certainly didn't become unscathed in any way from Lisanna and the others turning down his offer to rejoin his team. Natsu would either have to work alone or find new people, and no one in the Fairy Tail guild wanted to be around him.

This was definitely his bad karma for being so rude to Lucy, and Natsu was certainly not enjoying it. He had probably lost Lisanna for good, but he also had to realize that someone's trust had to be earned back. Forgiveness had to be earned as well, and it couldn't be earned on the same day that the climax point of a conflict transpired. Natsu sighed sadly while slamming his head down on the table in frustration, not knowing where he should start in a situation like this, and he really began to wish that he had thought before he acted.

* * *

**On a beach...**

Sting had led Lucy and the others to the beach near the town of Humilau, a resort town that attracted tourists during the summertime with its department store, great waves for surfing, outside pools and many of the tourists had occupied the marvelous-looking villas atop the green grassy hills overlooking the sandy beach and the ocean. The townspeople lived in huts that were on wooden piers, and one of the piers actually led to the Grand Fiore League where the mysterious tournament would be taking place.

The white dragon slayer walked down the beach, seeing no one around right now, and this was the perfect time for him and Lucy to have a training battle. No innocent people would get hurt, and Sting would also try not to damage the beach too much. He wanted to see how powerful he was, and he also wanted to see what Lucy's new spells would be like. Would they be based on power, trickery, succession, or something else? Either way, this made Sting look very excited. He also had given the stamp and color kit to Rogue, since Lucy would be getting her guild mark today.

She opened up her yellow spell book to see that there were only four readable spells of Lightning Magic, certainly a lesser number of moves than what Sting had, but Lucy also knew that he would try to make this a fair fight. He wouldn't make it easy on her, but it would be fair. These unknown spells could probably be what Hikari had used back in the amusement park, but Lucy knew that the book did have its weird way of making some strange spells that could also prove to be very effective in battles. She informed him of the slight drawback, and Sting agreed to keep things even.

Rogue and the others simply sat on one of the grassy hills that stood over the beach, wanting to see what would happen in this battle, and Wendy looked really curious about the book that Lucy was wielding. She wondered about what was in it, wondering what kind of spells Lucy would be using, and the young sky dragon slayer smiled a bit while she began to cheer for her friend. Happy and Carla were also cheering for Lucy as well, but Lector smirked arrogantly as he thought that Sting would definitely win this match.

"All right, Lucy. This will be a practice match between us, and I want to see how strong this new type of magic really is. Since you only have four spells, we'll go by the Grand Magic League rules in battles. This will be a four-on-four fight with one type of magic allowed for each side, and you win by either knocking out your opponent or when the opposing side runs out of magical power. If you're ready, then let's begin." Sting explained calmly with strength in his charming blue eyes, before smirking and going into a combat stance.

She replied confidently with ambition in her brown eyes while her yellow spell book began to glow, as her emotions became fierce for her to take this fight seriously, "I understand, Sting. I'm definitely ready to take you on! Lightning Magic, I need your assistance! I call upon thee, the first spell, Thunder Jolt!"

This spell caused Lucy's body to become surrounded by yellow electricity, and she could feel the voltage charging up from within her. She released all the electricity in the form of seven lightning bolts at Sting, but the white dragon slayer smirked in a cocky manner while dodging all of Lucy's attacks and proceeding to cancel them out with White Dragon's Holy Ray. He fired a copious amount of white beams of light from the space in between his hands as he put them together, and they canceled out Lucy's lightning! Seven miniature blasts of yellow lightning transpired around Lucy, and the side effect of this spell caused the electricity to make Lucy move a little bit faster.

The blonde girl smiled confidently while activating her second spell now, and it was known as Electric Shock. This move made a yellow sphere of Lightning Magic form in between Lucy's hands, and sparks of yellow lightning were coming off of the sphere. She quickly threw it at Sting, only to have him negate her spell with White Dragon's Roar. He unleashed a white laser beam from his mouth, and something strange happened when the two attacks collided. Lucy's sphere actually began to absorb Sting's laser beam, and the sphere of Lightning Magic created a large yellow blast when it exploded.

This attack could not only attack an opponent, but it could also turn other types of magic into lightning to assist Lucy. The sphere could also explode if nothing else had been done to it, and the side effect was that its shock waves would give Lucy some energy while paralyzing any target. Sting wasn't affected, however, since Lucy had absorbed the power of the lightning blast into her hands. She didn't want to majorly damage the beach, and neither did Sting. Lucy smirked a bit, feeling her magical power increase, and that prompted her to use the third spell.

Not knowing what would come from new spells was certainly a risky issue, but Lucy had faith in the yellow spell book. She knew that the next move would probably help her, and it was known as Lightning Rings. This move caused her to jump high into the air, and three electric rings were being worn on both of her arms. She threw the six rings of electricity down at Sting, forming the shape of a perfect hexagon around him, and the rings of electricity began to detonate. The first one made an extremely large blast of Lightning Magic transpire, but the next one wasn't as big. It also had only 5/6 of the first blast's power, and the third blast had 4/6 the amount of power.

Upon seeing the last three blasts also appear to be lower in size and power, Lucy quickly realized that this had to be a chain spell of some kind. However, its power was mainly focused into the first strike. It descended in power with every blast that followed it, but the side effect of the spell made all the electric waves enter Lucy's body. She kept moving much faster than before while she landed on the ground safely, confusing Sting with her fast speed, but Lucy also knew that the power of these spells definitely needed some work.

Sting told her in a calm manner with an impressed grin on his face, having quickly dug a hole in the sand before the blasts of Lightning Magic could even damage him, "That's a pretty interesting spell, Lucy, but you just need to really build it up a lot into one shot for a critical hit to occur. Chain spells can be used in one shot, but you have to do it right. Anyway, that was round three. This is the last round, so prepare yourself!"

"I'm ready, Sting! If the first, second, and third spells won't work, then let's see what the fourth spell will bring! I call upon thee, the fourth spell, Devouring Lightning!" Lucy replied happily, as she looked at the fourth spell of Lightning Magic to see the words in yellow text beginning to glow brightly.

Everyone was surprised to see this spell make four little stingrays of lightning emerge from Lucy's hands, and she looked pretty embarrassed about the attack looking so mediocre. Sting even felt like laughing while the stingrays slowly approached him, and he fired White Dragon's Holy Ray at all of them. Much to everyone's surprise, the lightning stingrays opened their mouths and ate Sting's beams of light! They began to grow in size from eating his magic, and they also started to chase after him when it seemed like they wanted more.

Lucy looked pretty shocked to see the now large stingrays of lightning chasing Sting, and they truly did seem hungry for his magic. Rogue didn't want to see his best friend get electrocuted, and he used Shadow Dragon's Roar to try and stop the stingrays. However, they grew bigger and faster upon eating his magic as well. Wendy even used Sky Dragon's Roar on the tail of one stingray, only to have it absorb her magic and make the stingray grow larger. Sting kept running as fast as he could, but he was still being followed by Lucy's projectiles.

Deciding to end this, even though it was comically funny, Rufus used his Memory-Make Magic to make Lucy's stingrays explode in large yellow blasts of Lightning Magic. The tremendous shock waves were being absorbed into Lucy's body, and the large gale force had certainly startled some of the people who were surfing and water skiing. Rufus had actually commanded his magic to make Lucy's spells proceed to their true effect, and the stingrays only had that much power after eating so much magic. Absorbing an opponent's magic and attacking them with it was certainly two threats in one, was it not?

As Rufus erased the billowing smoke from his memory to clear up the beach and fix any damage, Sting told Lucy with a happy facial expression, "That was totally unexpected, but it was awesome! Your spells give you speed, but the first three need more of a buildup to really become effective. Besides, I think there are still four left to unlock. Anyway, you gave me a great battle."

Lucy responded kindly while hugging Sting, happy to hear those kind words from him, "Thank you so much, Sting! Hearing praise from you is the greatest thing ever to me, and I will definitely do good for Sabertooth!"

Yukino had taken the stamp and color kit from Rogue when he wasn't paying any mind to it, and the woman with light blue hair had informed Lucy that her guild mark was in the color of blue on her left waist, and Lucy decided to get a nice change from Fairy Tail. Since Yukino was her friend, with the added fact that Lucy was intent on leaving her past behind, she requested that her insignia for the Sabertooth guild be in the color green on the right side of her waist. She lifted up her shirt for Yukino to see her navel area, and she put the guild mark on the left side of Lucy's waist.

Wendy didn't want her Fairy Tail guild mark to be removed, but she also wanted to spend more time with Lucy and catch up with her. The girls were like sisters, and Wendy did not want to part ways with Lucy now. She had gone all the way across the sea to find her friend, and the young blue-haired girl asked Lucy if she could join the guild without a mark. Sting and Rogue both seemed puzzled by Wendy asking that, but Lucy and Yukino saw no problem with it. After all, Wendy had helped them out with the Eclipse Project.

Everyone cheered at the fact that Lucy was a new member, and Sting challenged her to a race that would end when one of them reached the donut shop in the nearby place known as Chocolate Town. Feeling her future get much brighter, thanks to a dragon slayer of light, Lucy smiled confidently while she ran after Sting once again. Everyone else followed them in hot pursuit, wanting to have some fun in the race as well, and Yukino's brown eyes noticed something amazing again. Lucy's spell book pulsated with a yellow glow once again, and what was it going to signify?

* * *

**At the Fairy Tail guild...**

Gajeel and Pantherlily had finally returned from their training in the mountains, and the iron dragon slayer seemed a bit grumpy while muttering something as he sat down next to Levy at a table. She blushed a bit from noticing his presence, wondering what he was going to say to her today, and Gajeel was panting heavily. He seemed like him and Lily had just ran from the mountains to get here, or they had used up too much power while actually destroying a mountain. Levy looked a bit concerned, and she gave Gajeel a few spoons to eat.

Natsu also noticed that he had come back, wanting to fight with him once again, but Erza kicked the fire dragon slayer in the face while helping him remember that he couldn't do much while not having a team. His arrogance was truly getting on her nerves, and Natsu really hoped that one of his rivals would not find out that Lucy had beaten him up with his own element. Lily looked somewhat shocked, having seen something interesting up in the mountains, and his words actually reached everyone's ears in the guild.

Levy asked Gajeel in a kind tone, wondering why they came back from training on a mountain that was full of iron, "Are you okay, Gajeel? You didn't get hurt anywhere, did you?"

He responded in a somewhat annoyed manner, giving her a bit of a frustrated look, "I'm perfectly fine, Levy. There's nothing to worry about. I was just shocked to see Bunny-girl up in the mountains, and I could hear her from a distance. She seemed to be playing some kind of instrument, and then she used some kind of purple energy to destroy a faraway mountain. I just turned my head for a split second, and then she was gone. The music had stopped, too."

Erza looked shocked at Gajeel's words, wondering why Lucy would be up in the mountains, and she didn't have a flute with her at all. She had that strange spell book with her, so why would she need a flute? Was that even Lucy, or was it somebody else? Either way, this new mystery was puzzling to everybody. Lucy had been on the beach with Sting and the others, and they hadn't even been to the mountains yet. Her book didn't even have the color purple yet, so what in the world was going on? Could there be more to the book, instead of just being a mysterious item that Karen gave Lucy because she was a pure and innocent maiden?

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**How was the 12th chapter? Did you like it? Lucy's chemistry with Sting continues to improve, and their practice match proved that they can anticipate each other's moves. They will also show more chemistry in the next chapter when this story's next two OCs show up. What will happen on the next job? Will Lucy and Sting get a bit emotional? Will this situation make Sting help Lucy a little bit more? Standby for the update!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does. This story was made for fun, and not for cash. (How unfortunate.)**

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**Chapter 13: The Truly Elite and The Simply Egotistical**

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An entire week had passed since Lucy and Sting had that practice match on the beach, and the two blondes were currently checking out the jobs on Sabertooth's golden request board. They were looking for a pretty good job that they could do today, not too hard or too difficult, and Sting felt really confident right now. He had been working with Lucy all week to get her Lightning Magic to be really impressive like the other three types of magic in the spell book, and her attacks had been getting stronger.

Lucy also realized that she could consume lightning like Laxus and Orga were able to do, but she was not a dragon slayer or a god slayer. The book really did have the strangest abilities that she had ever seen, and the spells were even weirder at times. Despite her moves being weird, though, Lucy had figured out that she just needed to absorb electricity before using a move. This way, by properly concentrating her Lightning Magic into her moves, they could be used with much more speed and power in them.

She smiled happily at Sting while they kept looking at the request board, wanting to find what would hopefully be a good job, and the white dragon slayer had excitement in his blue eyes from seeing one request that really stood out from the others. Lucy wondered what kind of job she would be handling with Sting, hoping that it was something that could make her lightning continue to reach new heights, and she also hoped that this job would not end up containing any deadly traps or dark curses of any kind.

He told that this job was actually close to Castelia Town, going on the northern path towards Nimbasa Town, and Sting smirked arrogantly when he told her that this would be the best place for her to try and test out any new skills that she had. Lucy looked a bit curious when she heard those words come out of her companion's mouth, and he let her know that this place would be known as the Desert Resort. It was a pretty sandy place with sandstorms around, from what Sting had once told her, and it was too harsh to actually be a resort.

The brown-eyed girl wondered what Sting could be thinking as he smiled, and Lucy peeked over at the flyer to see that they now had the job of taking down someone who was scaring away many of the treasure hunters from the ruins. The place was already dangerous with its rumors of nobody ever coming out alive, and Lucy also assumed that Lightning Magic was ineffective against the sandy earth. Many rocks did have the quality of being lightning rods, capable of absorbing electricity, and this made Lucy look a bit doubtful.

She didn't want to doubt her abilities, but she knew very well that her first four spells of Lightning Magic weren't exactly up to par with a Wizard Saint or anyone near that level. After all, she had only improved them after one week. That certainly wasn't enough time to really get them up to a pretty high level, but Lucy also widened her cocoa brown eyes when she also realized that doubting herself was not the actual way to get things done. She wanted to become stronger than she was in Fairy Tail, desiring to become much stronger, and she had gotten out of tight spots before.

As she opened up the yellow spell book for any new hints about the magic that she had gotten from Hikari, Lucy noticed that another white card had appeared in the book. Sting had noticed this as well when his eyes glanced down at the book, and Lucy was curious about this next piece of advice. The cards had always given her special advice or certain rules about using the spells, and Lucy had been obeying them. She noticed the yellow text on this card, written in the book's fourth language, and Lucy read it aloud for Sting to know this tip as well.

"Do not get frustrated if some spells do not work like the others. Some spells have their conditions, and these special rules may be the light that saves you. Just like your feelings for Sting, be attracted to your magic while loving the bond you have with it." Lucy read aloud in a calm manner while smiling, before blushing a light shade of pink at the last sentence on the card.

Sting chuckled a bit from hearing the card's advice, and Lucy continued to blush while feeling that her yellow spell book was beginning to be a bit creepy. She even thought that someone was watching her, slipping the cards into her book when she had never noticed, and Lucy even had to wonder if the book had been giving her spells of its own free will. It did respond more to emotion than anything else, and the book must've sensed Lucy's heart while deciding to have a bit of humor with its master.

Lucy looked back at the flyer that Sting was holding in his left hand, and she noticed that the reward for capturing this person would be 400,000 jewels. This person did not have that high of a bounty on their head, but they were rumored to be pretty powerful. She could not be scared now when Sting was beside her, wnting to do her absolute best for him, and the disadvantage of one type of magic against another had never mattered to Sting. Lucy began to think that it didn't matter that much as well, especially since the spells in the book were like boxes of chocolate. She never knew what she was going to get.

Lector had also decided to join them while he flew to the top of Sting's head, knowing that his friend would definitely get the job done, and Lucy seemed happy to have another member on the job. Wendy and Rogue had already gone out on other jobs, not able to accompany Lucy and Sting right now, and Orga had also gone out on a job with Rufus. When Sting and Lector ran from Sabertooth's entrance doors, Lucy knew that she had to bring out the full power of lightning. Sting believed in her, and she began to look fierce while having confidence in her magic. As she ran after the duo, her yellow spell book glowed once again.

**Meanwhile, in the desert...**

Two people were standing in front of the Relic Castle, one of them smirking confidently while her eyes widened from sensing something, and she kept looking out at the hills of sand while having a few thoughts. This woman's name was Suna Shiro, a criminal who had also been part of a dark guild, and she had been wanted for committing many crimes. She wore a simple orange T-shirt with a black skirt, and she also wore some knee-high black leather boots. Her green hair was waist-length, and her eyes were of an orange color.

Her accomplice was a guy wearing a blue blazer with a white shirt underneath, and his pants were also dark blue. His tennis shoes were white, and his hair was light blue while having it in the shape of icy spikes. This guy was known as Aisu Shādo, another mage from the dark guild known as Silent Outcry, and he had only partnered up with Suna because she was a strong person who had been stealing money from treasure hunters and tourists who entered the Desert Resort. His calm demeanor was one reason why Suna liked having him around, too.

Aisu noticed that Suna was shaking with excitement, looking like she had just sensed a great vibration of power, but then she ceased with her shaking. This meant that the power she sensed had now been faint, not having the same vast amount of power that she had been detecting last week, and all of that strange power had seemed to be coming from Humilau Town. That was interesting, since she sensed that at the same time that Lucy and Sting were training on the beach there. She still smirked, however, and giggled a bit.

Suna could detect the level of a mage's power, no matter how far away they were, and she could even track them if they were deep in a mine shaft. She could tell that this person was coming her way, making her giggle even more, and Aisu looked a bit surprised at his girlfriend's current state. She had been sensing a lot of power lately, coming from different places at different places, and this immense power was most likely the power of Lucy's spell book. Suna did not know Lucy, however, only knowing her level of power.

The guy with the icy hair knew that his girlfriend could be quite arrogant in fights, displaying her power to make quite an impression on anyone who entered the Relic Castle, and she planned to take all of the castle's treasures for herself. This new enemy of hers was probably nothing to really worry about for Suna, but Aisu knew that she really had to be cautious. That level of power had been really intense last week, most likely coming from the electrical stingrays that came from Lucy's fourth spell, and Aisu had to wonder if Suna could beat that.

"I sensed quite a strong vibration a few moments ago, but now I only slightly feel it. That means I am more than powerful enough to defeat the next foolish mage when they arrive. There is no doubt. I can't get their exact location, but that magical power is heading our way. This will be a good opportunity to take out someone else, and I'll become even stronger." Suna said in an arrogant manner, feeling very sure of her abilities.

Aisu responded cautiously while glaring at his girlfriend, not wanting her to be in over head, "You've sensed their power, but we still do not even know what kind of power this mage has. Whatever type of magic they have, we must be really careful. They could even hit us with sneak attacks when we least expect it, or maybe they would even have-"

He was suddenly kicked hard in the groin by Suna, who shot a death glare at him for even assuming that anyone could be stronger than she was. He was supposed to be her boyfriend, but she only cared about him because he made her look strong to other people. Suna was known as the Earth Dragon Slayer by anyone who had encountered her, and she had learned her magic from an Earth Dragon named Clay. She was very prideful, and she also punched Aisu in the face for not thinking that she could handle anything that came her way.

Suna also possessed many spells, and she grinned evilly when she believed that she was an elite-class dragon slayer. She could make many spells of Earth Dragon Slayer Magic, and she always tested out the spells by destroying every single dark guild to get some recognition for herself. It was interesting to see a dark mage destroy dark guilds, and Suna always ate the rubble of each guild to make herself stronger. She could eat earth, sand, mud, and even some of the rocky statues in the Desert Resort.

She narrowed her orange eyes at Aisu, seeing him as nothing but a weak tool that she could use to find dark guilds since he knew most of Fiore like the back of his hand, and Suna planned to blow up the light guilds when her selfish plan was finished. Since Sabertooth was the nearest light guild, the green-haired woman thought about starting there to really give the world a true demonstration of her power. She planned to kill Aisu when he was no longer needed in her plans, but he did not know anything about her scheme.

Suna actually had a team in Silent Outcry, but she had kicked out the other four members because they were much weaker than she was. She had the thought of weak trash not being needed on her team, and she only saw Aisu as a tool that would help her get stronger. She didn't need him for anything else, not even really considering him to be her boyfriend, and she was just using him like a pawn. Suna had been manipulating him, since he was the guild's most recent rookie, and this plan of hers was certainly self-centered and egotistical. Those adjectives sounds familiar and perfectly fitting with another certain mage, do they not?

* * *

**At the entrance...**

Lucy, Sting, and Lector had arrived at the entrance to the Desert Resort. This was a large and barren desert with vicious sandstorms raking it, and Lucy tried her best to not let any sand get in her eyes. She hadn't exactly dressed appropriately for the heat, either, and she was sweating profusely. Lucy currently wore a simple white T-shirt with a green miniskirt, and her flat shoes were blue. She could see the deep sand being a darker brown color than the golden sand, and she curiously walked towards it.

However, Sting quickly grabbed her left arm and pulled her back towards him while looking cautious. He sternly looked at her with care in his charming blue eyes, letting her that the brown sand was quicksand, and he didn't want her to sink into it at all. Quicksand was extremely difficult to escape from, and nobody knew where the quicksand pits would lead to. Sting could see that some tourists were here, mainly people who wanted to explore the ruins from their various entrances, and he had to wonder about what was in the Relic Castle.

Sting had heard the legends about ancient ruins containing many secrets, and he himself had once visited the Hippowdon Temple in the country of Almia to discover a secret that involved two dragons of space and time. He had also been researching on three legendary golems that were the keys to unlocking a much greater being, but he had never found out what any of them were. Sting opened his mouth to eat some sunlight, and he looked a bit serious when he could feel that the enemy was around here somewhere.

The heat in the Desert Resort was certainly unbearable for Lucy, and even resting against a rock wall made her feel like heat was on her back. The golden sand was very hot as well, burning her hands when she tried to pick it up, and the blonde girl yelped in pain while blowing on her burnt hands. Sting saw that she was in pain, so he activated a move known as White Dragon's Healing. Holding her gentle hands in his, Sting made a white aura surround Lucy's hands and make them pure again. They were now free of the sudden burns, making her smile from the relief.

In order to thank Sting for helping her out, Lucy opened up the yellow spell book to see if her Lightning Magic could help him in any way. She widened her cocoa brown eyes from seeing that the book had given her the next four spells to use, and Lucy did not even know how she had unlocked them. They had now been written because of her love for Sting, believing that more power was inside of her, and the blonde female wondered what kind of effects these spells would have. Would they be really useful without anything backing them up, unlike the other four spells?

"I call upon thee, the fifth spell, Lightning Magnetism!" Lucy shouted happily, confidence in her eyes while she looked ready to find the criminal and protect Sting.

This spell caused a slow-moving ball of electricity to emerge from her left hand, and it headed straight for the sandy hill in front of the entrance to the Desert Resort. Lucy waited for the spell's effect to transpire immediately, hoping to see something powerful happen for Sting to be impressed with her once again, but nothing happened. Not even a single spark of lightning occurred, really giving Lucy quite a shock, and Sting also seemed puzzled by the spell's effect not showing itself. Lucy saw nothing occur, and she sighed sadly.

As Sting comforted Lucy, not wanting her to feel down about this, he didn't even take notice of Suna and Aisu standing in front of the Relic Castle. Suna had definitely picked up on that little vibration, detecting that spell as soon as it was used, and her orange eyes traced the power to the two people who seemed to have recently entered the Desert Resort. She finally realized that they must have been the ones who were heading her way, ready to defeat her, and Suna grinned evilly before snapping her fingers to vanish in a twister of sand.

She reappeared in the twister that was in front of Lucy, making a giant fist of sand strike the blonde girl in the face with tremendous force, and Lucy was sent flying backwards into the nearby wall of rock. Sting looked concerned for her, rushing to Lucy's aid, and he quickly figured out that this was the criminal they had to defeat. In retaliation for hurting Lucy, Sting glared at the sand twister and used his White Dragon's Holy Breath attack to destroy it. He unleashed the enormous white beam of light from his mouth, only to have the criminal slam her fists against the ground to summon a large rock wall from underground to cancel out his attack.

Lucy managed to get up, wincing in pain from her impact against the rock wall, and she used the sixth spell of Lightning Magic that was known as Electric Shield. This spell obviously made two grey pillars rise high into the air, being on both sides of a wall that was made from yellow electricity, and it was perfect for defending against some needles of sand that were fired from the large twister. Lucy's shield bent like rubber, absorbing the impact of the numerous needles, and it converted them into electrical needles before sending them back at their user.

This shield also amplified the reflected damage by six times the original power of the attack, and many large blasts of lightning transpired when the twister deflected some of the electrical needles to hit other areas of the Desert Resort. Lucy didn't want any innocent people to get hurt, and she got some relief from seeing many tourists run past her to get some safety. The needles of electricity had made blasts that were large enough to break through the twister, and Suna screamed in pain when she was getting electrocuted. Sting finally got to see who the criminal was, and he was shocked at what she did next.

She explained in a harsh tone, angry with the Sabertooth mages for getting in her way, "Well, look what we have here. All the magical power that I've been sensing has been coming from one of Sabertooth's dragon slayers, and it's also coming from his girlfriend as well. That doesn't matter, though. I am Suna, the Earth Dragon Slayer, and I am an elite among the light and dark mages alike. I also don't like having weaklings on my team. They are all trash to me, including any followers I have."

Before Lucy or Sting could even retaliate, Suna slammed her palms against the ground to make two walls of earth rise up from the ground and crush her foes with a hard slam. She felt very confident about this two-on-one battle now being a one-on-one battle, thinking that she had taken out Lucy with one shot, and dealing with Sting would be very fun for her. A battle of dragon slayers would be pretty great, in her opinion, but she first had to make sure that one foe was crushed. Upon hearing no response, Suna arrogantly smirked before laughing.

She didn't even see that Lucy had quickly jumped on to Sting's shoulders before the rock walls could crush her, and she looked pretty angry to know that there was a female version of Natsu right before her eyes. She still had a score to settle with him, remembering that Erza had gotten in the way of Lucy delivering the finishing blow in Fairy Tail, and this situation was like a reverse of the genders. She never knew that some girls could be just as rude as Natsu was, and hearing Suna's arrogant laughter made Lucy determined to beat her.

* * *

"I don't know what kind of elite dragon slayer you think that you are, but you aren't that strong if you can't even beat someone who was the weakest mage in Fairy Tail!" Lucy shouted fiercely, looking pretty angry as she used the Thunder Jolt spell to help herself and Sting escape from Suna's attack.

The rock walls were easily destroyed, definitely making Aisu and the Earth Dragon Slayer look very surprised, and they both looked startled to see the two mages from Sabertooth running towards Suna at high speeds when she had distanced herself from them. Lucy and Sting both looked pretty determined to succeed on this job, and they were capable of understanding each other through simple eye contact. They ran straight towards Suna, but suddenly veered off to the left and the right to get her confused.

Aisu, being a new mage, looked pretty startled by such a maneuver. He stepped back while asking Suna about which one he should try to attack, but she just angrily called him a dope for asking that question. She thought that by attacking Lucy, there would be no way for the blonde girl to defend herself with any techniques. Suna attempted to launch another giant sand fist at Lucy, only to have Sting strike her from behind with White Dragon's Roar. Suna gasped in shock from the sudden attack, and she fell to the ground before getting up again with a frustrated scowl on her face.

She angrily asked Lucy and Sting, looking pretty pissed off, "What kind of cheap sneak attack was that? Are you seriously so reckless?"

Suna slammed her fists against the ground once again when Sting and Lucy both lunged at her, and the ground began to crack before making multiple explosions transpire. They sent the mages flying backwards, making Suna giggle at the thought that she already won this fight, but she looked straight ahead to see her opponents simply panting while strength was still in their eyes. Their persistence startled Aisu, never having seen this kind of thing before, and he became even more shocked to see a yellow aura surround Lucy's body to allow her to move at lightning speed. She was heading straight for him this time, making him panic a bit.

His green-haired teammate groaned in frustration, angrily shouted that she just had to be paired with a weak loser like Aisu, and she tried to finish off Lucy by making giant brown spikes of earth rise from the ground to strike her from underneath. However, Lucy quickly called upon the seventh spell to stop those spikes. It was known as Electric Curve, and this spell simply made a beam of lightning emerge from her left hand. It hit one spike, and curved off to hit the others. Every curve it took caused the beam of lightning to grow bigger and faster, and it was also stronger. The beam was redirected around like a pinball bouncing off numerous objects, and it finally exploded in a massive yellow blast when it destroyed a single earth spike. With this spell being torn through, Suna looked pretty hotheaded.

She continued to chastise Aisu, calling him a useless buffoon, and Suna fiercely turned the sand below Lucy into gooey mud that rose up from the ground and immobilized Lucy with its properties of being really sticky. However, Sting ran towards her and freed her with Holy Ray while grinning with confidence. Lucy landed in his arms, and she blushed a bit while thanking him for the nice save. She got back down to the ground, and Lucy realized something interesting about the Electric Curve spell. The curve didn't just go in a random trajectory, but it could also be used for other spells as well. Every time it bounced off an earth spike, the large spike would have a yellow aura surrounding it. If the theory that Lucy was creating would prove to have been correct, Lightning Magic was more useful than it seemed to be.

As she used Electric Curve, however, Suna quickly went op top of the large hill where Lucy's fifth spell had seemingly failed to work. The green-haired woman could change the properties of the earth, and she created iron rock walls out of the sand in front of her. Even the quicksand made large iron rock wall rise from the ground, and they all turned from brown to a grey color to represent the change. Even the hill of sand that she was standing on became grey like iron, and Suna laughed viciously with the thought of Lucy's lightning not being able to break through the hardest iron in Fiore.

The yellow beam of lightning emerged from Lucy's hand, and it quickly curved off the first iron rock wall to reach the second. It touched the walls in a zigzag manner, making a yellow aura surround them, and Sting had a clue about what Lucy was up to. He remembered how that spell worked in a chain manner of succession, similar to the Aqua Ball spell of Water Magic, and the Electric Curve spell had now hit seven of the ten rock walls in front of the hill where Suna was located. The spell was evolving with every link in the chain, and its power just kept getting stronger.

Aisu thought to himself, looking really frightened at this level of power that Lucy was demonstrating, _"Those guys are human, aren't they? Why aren't they scared like me, especially after having to go through all of Suna's attacks? Where in the world do these guys get all their strength from?"_

Sting's blue eyes widened from seeing the spell continue to just bounce off the remaining rock walls, and he thought that Lucy's efforts would really go to waste when he saw Suna preparing to jump off of the hill of grey iron sand. However, he became even more surprised to see that she found herself unable to move at all while she stood on the iron hill. It was crackling with yellow electricity surrounding it, almost like some kind of magnetic force was holding Suna down, and that's when Sting remembered the fifth spell. It hadn't worked earlier because the hill wasn't containing any metal, but it worked now because of their opponent making the ground have metallic properties.

Scowling angrily at the fact that all her spells were being torn through, Suna quickly changed the terrain from iron to to being sandy again to regain mobility. She could see that Lucy's spell was extremely large now, possibly at the level of causing instant death upon impact, and she made a sand twister bring Aisu for her to use as a human shield to stop that spell in its tracks. Suna thought that she had now won, but Lucy's yellow spell book began to shine even brighter while she looked determined to defeat Suna for treating her own teammate so badly.

The blonde mage couldn't believe that someone could be lower than a dirty snake to use their own partner as a shield, and Lucy activated the eighth spell of Lightning Magic. This was the final spell, and Lucy looked pretty heated when she could definitely see similarities in Suna and Natsu. Her last spell was known as Electric Vortex, and it caused a massive vortex of yellow lightning to be fired straight from her mouth. Its power caused the already powerful Electric Curve to merge with it, making the eighth spell even more powerful, and Suna could only curse at Aisu while strangling him for being so scared of this level of power.

* * *

When the final spell hit both of the dark mages, it created many massive blasts of yellow lightning that nearly obliterated all of the sand in the Desert Resort. Suna and Aisu both became paralyzed with electricity because of the spell's side effect, and they were sent blasting off into the sky. As one last act of revenge against the Sabertooth mages for messing up her fun, Suna made the ground become filled with muddy tidal waves that would simply cover their targets in dirty mud. The impact would be like getting slammed with the pressure of tidal waves, though, and the sore loser laughed evilly.

Lucy looked like she wanted to panic, as she slipped down into the mud, and she gasped in shock upon seeing her yellow spell book sink into mud. She knew that even Virgo's digging skills might not save her from something like this, and she closed her eyes while a tidal wave of mud slammed down on her. She was sent down into the mud, sinking pretty fast, and Lucy couldn't find Sting or her book anywhere. Her clothes were being ruined by all the mud, and so was her hair. All this mud would not really make a good spa treatment, to be honest.

Suddenly, she felt something like a person's hand grab her left arm and pull her to safety. Lucy slowly opened her brown eyes to see that Sting had pulled her up to the surface of the Desert Resort, and he was also covered in the dirty mud. She was really glad that he had helped her out today, and Sting had also saved Lucy's life. He really was a great guy to have around, and Sting had really made Lucy feel happy. She really saw him as the guy who could heal her pain and erase her worries, even though she seemed to have lost the book.

"Oh, man! I totally have to get your book, Lucy! I know you really cherish that thing, and all your spells are really cool! You're a pretty great girl, too, so I have to help you get-" Sting shouted in a somewhat alarmed tone, noticing she didn't have the book with her, and he was suddenly silenced.

Lucy cupped Sting's face in her hands, kissing him on the lips with gentle ease to show how much she loved his newest acts of gratitude, and she was really lucky to have him as a partner. She wanted him to know that she wanted to be more than friends, and Sting kissed back while he blushed from feeling her soft lips. He was enjoying her sweet kiss, loving the fact that she was a great partner to have with him on jobs, and he also thought that she looked cute when she was muddy. Lucy was now the girl that he wanted as a girlfriend, and Sting was the guy that Lucy had wanted as a boyfriend.

She told Sting in a loving manner, removing her hands from his face while she blushed from the beauty of his blue eyes, "Sting, I really couldn't have been so helpful without you. I've never faced someone who had so many moves, and our teamwork really proved that we're an amazing combination. I'm in love with the greatest guy ever, and he's you."

"Thanks, Lucy. We really do make a great duo, and I really think we would be good for each other. I love being around you, Lucy." Sting responded in a kind manner, before grinning happily from getting a kiss from the girl that he loved.

Lector had been watching everything from the sky, not wanting to get muddy or hit with powerful chunks of earth, and he smirked with confidence from seeing Sting get kissed. He knew that his friend had the charms to make Lucy fall in love with him, and he also knew that a great dragon slayer would never screw up a relationship. He was about to go down there to make sure that his friends were okay, but something began to bubble in the water between them. What in the world could that be?

Lucy could see that a rectangular object had risen to the surface, obviously being her spell book, and it was strangely smelling like chocolate with some caramel mixed into it. The mud suddenly slithered off of the book, revealing it to be in perfect condition on every single page, and it had now changed from yellow to being orange. That made both Sting and Lucy look surprised, especially when the latter looked in the book to see a fifth section with words in a new olden language that had its first few lines of information in orange text. The unreadable words were in brown text, and Sting had to wonder what this book truly was. It certainly was anything but ordinary, that's for sure. It had even changed all the dirty mud into chocolate, from what Sting tasted when he got curious. Had it absorbed Suna's substance-changing ability?

As the duo smiled at each other while holding hands, going towards the entrance to head back to their guild while Lector followed them, they did not even notice that Karen emerged from the shadow of the Relic Castle. She looked pretty thrilled at the sight of what had happened, remembering that final spell of Lightning Magic to have belonged to her master, and just seeing Lucy in action made her smirk deceptively once again. She was certainly glad to have found criminals for Lucy to defeat, and she would be sure to have the reward of 400,000 jewels be waiting at the Sabertooth guild for the blonde maiden.

_"This is wonderful, really. I searched for the pure maiden who could open the book, and Lucy Heartfilia has broken the fourth seal. Master, I can tell that your energy is growing while you wait for the grand moment to arise once again. She has so much potential like you did back then, and it's quite interesting to note that she really hates Natsu. Lucy has a heart and soul of light, but it needs a little darkness like how your attitude was. After all, one is loose and that's perfect." _Karen thought to herself while smiling at the sight of Lucy's book being orange like a beautiful sunset that occurred after the light of day and before the darkness of the night.

* * *

**How was the 13th chapter? Did you like it? Sorry if I changed the plot a bit from what I originally planned, but it all came together. Sting and Lucy are now officially boyfriend and girlfriend, a true StiCy couple, and things will get good for them in these next few chapters. This chapter was also mostly focused on them, too. The Grand Magic Games or a similar event is coming up, too. What will happen when Mira checks Fairy Tail's library? Will Makarov reveal important things? Will Lucy's past catch up with her, and cause quite a ruckus? Standby for the update!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does. This story was made for fun, and not for cash. (How unfortunate.)**

* * *

**Chapter 14: From Electric Shocker To Earthy Rocker **

* * *

Another week had gone by, and Lucy had been getting some time to bond with her new magic. It had come as a result of the book being covered in Suna's magical mud that had filled the Desert Resort, and the spell book itself was now in the color of orange. The book had also informed her that this fifth type of magic was Earth Magic, capable of helping Lucy work with much more strength and defense, and she could also work with rocks. The Earth Magic had allowed her to manipulate sand and mud as well, molding objects such as weapons or shields out of them as her non-spell abilities.

Sting had been training with her in the mountains of Fiore where rocky terrain would obviously be located, and he had been helping her get it strong early on for it to not have a weak start like with the Lightning Magic. He had made her try to pick up enormous boulders and turn solid cliffs into sand or mud, but those feats didn't surprise Sting as much as when he saw Lucy eat mud, rocks, and sand to replenish her energy. The book seemed to be making these inedible pure for her each time as well, making an orange aura surround her body, and they weren't hurting her digestive system in any way.

Lucy was so happy to have Sting as her boyfriend and training partner, since they worked really well together on jobs, and they had the white dragon slayer was happy to have someone like Lucy as a girlfriend. The brown-eyed girl had been very supportive of him, cheering him on when he had to handle something that would seem difficult, and Sting loved the way how Lucy could get along with almost anyone. Not only did she possess a great bond with the orange spell book, but she also had a good bond with her Celestial Spirits.

In fact, she even used Scorpio and Taurus to help her test out the Earth Magic by respectively creating vortexes of sand and slamming huge chunks of earth upward with one blow from a mighty axe. Lucy's average running speed had grown majorly overall, most likely thanks to the Lightning Magic, but her average amount of strength was growing because of the Earth Magic. She didn't look more muscular in any way, but Lucy had enjoyed lifting up boulders when her new Earth Magic was there as a nice means of support.

She was currently having lunch with Sting today at the Sabertooth guild, eating a cheeseburger with fries while her boyfriend was eating a large steak, and they were discussing more about the upcoming Grand Magic Games as well as the Grand Fiore League that Rufus had once mentioned. Sting told Lucy that he couldn't compete in the Grand Magic Games this year, since the master of a guild could not be in the tournament, and he was trying his best to hope that Sabertooth would come out on top this year to regain their former glory.

He also let Lucy know that the Grand Fiore League was a tournament like Rufus had said it was, but that competition was not like the Grand Magic Games. There were battles, but there was more to winning than just brute force. Battles in the Grand Fiore League involved appealing, which meant showing off strength and the beauty of spells in very creative ways. Showing off the glamour of spells could also cause opponents to lose points, and Sting let Lucy know that those types of battles would end when one side got knocked out or lost all 100 points.

The Grand Fiore League had judges like the Grand Magic Games did, and that competition also had its own set of rules. For example, the teams in the tournament would have to pick their least and most experienced mages at different times because of special rules informing everyone that the matches would involve full battles. Full battles involved six types of magic on each side, and whichever side ran out of magical power first or got knocked out would be eliminated from the tournament. Even one-on-one battles could be stressful, causing some people to have to choose very carefully for a winning chance.

"Lucy, I hope you are very psyched up for whichever tournament you decide to enter. I want Sabertooth to win the Grand Magic Games, and it would really be awesome to see you win for our guild. You have an entire arsenal of spells in your book, even though the Earth Magic hasn't given us a single spell yet, and I just know you'll do great. In fact, you could even show Fairy Tail a thing or two while you're at it." Sting told her in a calm tone while smirking arrogantly, having complete faith in his girlfriend's abilities while sitting across from her at the table.

She responded in a kind manner, determination in her brown eyes as she smiled back at Sting, "Thank you, Sting! I'm glad that you believe in me, and I won't let you down! I want my new guild to see that I'm nothing like I was in Fairy Tail, and I will definitely show Natsu that the powers of my orange spell book can really make a rocking rumble! I haven't been able to use any dragon-slaying moves like Suna could, and maybe the book is creating the spells with its own unorthodox logic. It keeps on surprises me, no matter how many new spells I get."

The blonde mage had heard rumors of the Grand Magic Games being replaced with the Grand Fiore League, but rumors were never really the real deal. Nobody had a clue about what would happen, except the one piece of information that stayed really consistent. One of these big events would be occurring in two months from now, and they both gave people lots of ambition with pressure added. One tournament would decide the best guild in Fiore with events and battles, but another would decide the Fiore League Champion with battles and the stylishness of a mage included. One had ferocity, and one was simply fabulous. However, both competitions would be fierce.

While Lucy was feeling comfortable in Sabertooth with Sting, how was her old guild doing without her? The curiosity made its way into her cocoa brown eyes, wondering who Fairy Tail would pick for their teams that would compete in this year's Grand Magic Games, and she obviously knew that Lisanna and Elfman would be replacing her and Wendy. However, Lucy certainly had no idea about Natsu's team being disbanded because of the drama and discord that he caused. Was Fairy Tail still in a state of distortion, or had some things managed to be repaired?

* * *

**At the Fairy Tail guild...**

Mirajane had just returned from keeping record of the books checked out in the upstairs library, and she took over the job of barmaid from Cana. Makarov was drinking some beer from a mug while looking confident that Fairy Tail would win again in this year's Grand Magic Games. Just like last year in X791, two teams from Fairy Tail would participate to try and achieve 1st place. Could Fairy Tail bring another year of pride to the guild, making the town of Magnolia celebrate for two years straight with another golden trophy of glory?

Things had been looking pretty good for the Fairy Tail guild right now, especially since Natsu hadn't caused much problems for the former members of his team. They hadn't been talking to him anymore, and the fire dragon slayer simply had to accept the fact that he would have to change his ways for Lisanna to even see a glimmer of hope for their relationship. Natsu's mouth never agreed with his thoughts, however, and this made Mirajane sigh sadly while she saw him with his head down at a table near the guild's entrance.

She knew that her spot in the Grand Magic Games was certainly reserved for her, since she was just as strong as Erza, and Mira was confident that Fairy Tail would get more wins than they did last year. The white-haired woman also hoped that nothing serious would transpire, such as the big incident with the Eclipse Project, and she had hoped that there would be no dragon war of any kind. Mira smiled while cleaning a beer mug with a white rag, and she knew that things like love and good karma would eventually reach everyone in the guild.

Even though she could see Lisanna looking happy while she was chatting with Erza and Gray at a table, Mira knew that her younger sister did want some love in her life. It wasn't exactly her place to intervene and play matchmaker, but Mira had to do something about the discord in her sister's romantic life. Lisanna had told her about everything that had happened with Natsu, realizing that he was just a big jerk who had been using her to make Lucy jealous, and Mira knew that Natsu would have to find a way to make up for his actions.

While she was thinking about that, Mira was suddenly snapped out of her thoughts by Makarov clearing his throat like he wanted to have a chat with her about something important. Fairy Tail did not really care that much for the Grand Fiore League or have any current watch on other guilds to observe their upcoming strategies, so what did Makarov need to discuss with Mira? Could this be something that would be great to talk about, or would it cause a little bit of a tense situation between them?

"Hello, Mira. I see that you're done checking all the books in the library. Everything is in order, I assume, and hope that all of the forbidden books have been moved so that no one will try to get power that they aren't ready to experience. I originally wanted you to burn them, but the First Master has always said that we never know when we may need something later on that is not appreciated by us right now." He said calmly while smiling slightly, taking a sip of his beer before looking at the white-haired girl in front of him.

Mirajane replied nicely while looking cheerful, as she was cleaning a mug with a white rag, "All the books were accounted for, Master Makarov. Well, there seems to be an inconsistency. One of the books in the records was probably checked out, so there's really nothing to worry about. Levy is just borrowing one of the books again for some more knowledge, or maybe Erza is reading one of the naughty hentai novels again. I can't remember what the book was, though."

"What book might that be? Do you have the list to make the task easier on yourself, my child?" Makarov asked out of curiosity, still drinking his beer and getting ready to swallow the last of it.

Mirajane happily handed him the record sheet that had the name of every book in Fairy Tail's library written down on it, and there were check marks next to the title of each book if the book had been accounted for. However, mysteriously, one book was unaccounted for. Makarov's eyes scrolled down the long list, and he nearly spat out his beer when he saw the name of the book that Mirajane couldn't find. He looked like he wanted to freak out, causing Mirajane to wonder if somebody had taken something that they shouldn't have.

"It's gone! That book is missing! I can't believe that someone would take that book, out of all the spell books! Mira, how did this happen?! What kind of person would check out something like that, as if anybody can use it?! Which airhead took that book, Mira?!" He asked while looking totally shocked and sounding utterly astounded that a certain book was missing from the guild of Fairy Tail.

His outburst got the attention of everyone in Fairy Tail, making them all wonder what was making Makarov so freaked out, and he had even made his hands bigger to shake Mira by her shoulders in his appalled state. The former members of Natsu's team, as well as the fire dragon slayer, had walked over to the bar to try any attempts to quell the situation. This book was either very important, or it was some kind of forbidden book that was not to be read. Makarov and many other old people certainly knew about this book, but what bothered him so much about it?

"Gramps, what's so bad about a book being missing? Can't you just buy another copy of it? The bookstore is open every day, so it's not that hard for you to just go down there and ask if they have it." Gray asked with a calm look on his face, trying to understand the situation while he pulled the old man away from Mira to at least give one of them a sense of relief.

He explained sternly, hoping that book wasn't in the hands of a dark guild, "It's not that simple, Gray! There is no copy of this book because it was not made by any publishing company for them to have rights to copy it, and a lone mage was the maker of this book! That book has spells in it that contain massive amounts of power, and the book itself isn't even in a modern language! It's unreadable, but this is just unthinkable!"

While his explanation made Gray be wary for anyone who could be having a book with them, Natsu really showed no interest in something like this. By his own logic, there was really no reason to care about a book that no one could probably read. He expressed his thoughts aloud in a brash manner, seeing the book as a complete waste of pages that had just made those trees die in vain, and Natsu was met Makarov's facial expression that now had a stern look while still retaining some of the shock from earlier.

Makarov used his large left hand to pull Natsu by his scarf to be face to face with fire dragon slayer, and he sternly let him know that the book had so many restricted spells inside of it. They could even give a bit of trouble to people like Jura Neekis and Jellal Fernandes, definitely showing the power of this book, and there was another important piece of information about the book. It would only be able to open for a person with a heart that was pure, and it was impossible to make fake feelings slide by for that power. The book could sense a person's true nature, detecting what was in their heart, and it choose its master of its own free will.

Erza looked very stunned to hear something like this, finding it almost unbelievable that an inanimate object could be sentient, and she could not believe that Makarov also mentioned that the book had non-spell abilities like curses and assists to help its master. It really was strange for someone to even make a spell book that seemed so abnormal, but then something in Erza's mind caused her to widen her brown eyes in shock. The talk of a strange book was beginning to make the memories of Lucy resurface, and she certainly had a strange book.

The scarlet-haired mage asked Makarov if the book had any outstanding characters or designs that would make it distinguishable from other spell books, but the guild master unfortunately sighed in a disappointed manner. Whoever made that book was really crafty to not let just anyone know how it looked, making it appear to be like the other books, but Erza had remembered that Lucy's book was red. She presumably had a red book with her, and that's the one Erza needed to find. It sounded easy, right?

However, Makarov had only scratched the surface about the book's info. He did not know that the book was capable of changing colors to hide itself from anyone who may be seeking it, and Erza also did not know that. She wanted to get that book back from Lucy, hoping she wasn't doing anything wrong with it, but where would Erza even start looking? Gray smiled a bit while recommending that the group start their search in far-off areas first, since that may be where Lucy would go, and the ice mage recommended the port town of Castelia as the first place to check out. He dragged Natsu along with Erza and Lisanna, since he also owed Lucy a pretty big apology.

* * *

**Back at Sabertooth...**

With the Grand Magic Games coming up, everyone was eager to know who would be selected to compete this year. Sting had really wanted to join in on the fun, but he also had to maintain his position of being the guild master of Sabertooth. Rogue let him know that the team would definitely do good for him, though, so there would be nothing to worry about. However, there was also the possibility of the Grand Fiore League being the main event. Things were still under speculation, and no one knew what would happen.

Sting had told everyone to sit down at tables in the guild while they were awaiting the results of his selections for the upcoming event, thinking that this team would be the strongest team that would definitely help Sabertooth win this year, and Lucy sat at a table with all of her friends near Sabertooth's entrance doors while Sting was behind the golden reception desk located at the back of the guild. After all of her hard work, would Sting make the unbiased decision of choosing Lucy? Did he want to see his girlfriend give it her all?

Lucy wanted the chance to prove her strength against Fairy Tail, and she had worked really hard. Her cocoa brown eyes were filled with confidence while she held the orange spell book in her hands, and the blonde mage hoped that there was also some way for her and Sting to have the grand opportunity to be in a tag-team battle. She wanted him at her side, not just watching from the sidelines during the whole thing, and Lucy had seen Sting's face when he had realized that he couldn't compete alongside her.

She didn't want him to be sad about this, and there had to be some way for the white dragon slayer to show his strength. He had even been bragging about a few new moves that he had created as well, not even have shown them off to anyone yet, and Lucy really wanted Sting to have contributed to the guild's possible win. He had some confidence in his charming blue eyes while taking in a breath of air, and he was getting ready to announce who he had selected to represent the Sabertooth guild.

Lucy was a little nervous about Sting calling her name, since she hadn't exactly been the strongest mage in the guild, and she wasn't the newbie anymore only because of Wendy joining the Sabertooth guild. She thought that Sting would want only the already powerful members on the team, caring only about strength for something like this, but something came as a great shock to her. The white dragon slayer calmly announced with a smile of confidence that the members of Team Sabertooth would be Rogue, Yukino, Rufus, Orga, and Lucy.

The blonde mage exclaimed excitedly, hearing her name be called by her boyfriend, "Sting, that's great! I love you so much, and I will not let you or the team down! I plan to win, and that's exactly what I'll do! We will win for you, Sting, and there has to be some way for you to be a reserve member or something! I can't do this without you, and neither can your fellow teammates!"

Sting looked amazed at the amount of dedication and concern that Lucy had for him, really wanting him to be alongside the team when they were announced for anything, and he blushed a bit from seeing how confident Lucy looked. She had realized that he was feeling a bit down about not being able to compete with everyone else, and Sting was glad to have a girlfriend like Lucy. She really did care for him, wanting him to work with her when they came across enemies, and her speech had really lifted Sting's spirits.

Competition was something that Sting really loved, and he knew that there would have to be some way for him to join his friends in the Grand Magic Games or the Grand Fiore League. He began to give it some thought, but he could not rush into any decision without good judgement. Lector did not want Sting to be upset, either, and the red Exceed knew that his blond friend could beat down anyone in a tournament of any kind. He thanked Lucy for her kind words, and Lector smirked a bit when he knew that Sting had found the right girl to be with.

"What's with all the silence, people? This is a time for us to be cheering, since yours truly will find a way for us all to be happy!" Sting told the silent mages with a somewhat annoyed look, before giving Orga the signal to be the DJ for some music to play and hopefully make things more lively.

* * *

**20 minutes later...**

The entire guild of Sabertooth decided to celebrate the choosing of the team members with a party that included food, music, drinks, and a cake. While Orga was spinning the records and playing some music, Rogue was being admired by many of the girls in the guild who liked him. He would just hold their hands gently, but they would faint from how hot he was to them. This always made Frosch giggle, and it smiled happily at the fact that Rogue had been chosen once again for a chance to redeem himself.

Rufus was simply enjoying the gourmet food while he was reading a book about memories, and he had been interested in Lucy's orange book like the rest of the team had been. Lucy had even shown the languages in the book to Rufus once, but he couldn't decipher a single word. The characters weren't like any language that he had memorized, and even a spell known as Memory-Make: Translate to Japanese had no effect on the pages in the orange spell book. What kind of book was Lucy wielding, anyway?

Speaking of Lucy, she sat at a table with Sting and Lector while smiling happily at the fact that the white dragon slayer had brought her a three-layered cake as her reward for giving such an inspiring speech to cheer him up. He had really wanted to thank her for really lifting his mood, and Lucy had also done it as a way of returning the favor from when Sting saved her from drowning in Suna's mud that had filled up the Desert Resort. He had saved her life, and she definitely felt like she owed him for that kind act.

After all, it's not every day that a girl got to spend a great amount of time with the guy that she really liked. Lucy had gotten the 400,000 jewels from that job in the Desert Resort, giving half of the money to Sting, and he had really helped her out in that battle against Suna. Despite being tough at times, Lucy certainly did get to see Sting's sweet side. He cut a slice of the vanilla cake for himself, revealing the cake's interior to be creamy chocolate, and Sting had playfully put some vanilla frosting on Lucy's face before licking the rest off of the cake slice.

She cut a slice of cake for herself as well, putting it on the golden plate, and Lucy wiped the frosting off of her face before she tasted it. The vanilla frosting was delicious and really sweet, having an elegant sugary taste, and the chocolate cake tasted as if it was the finest chocolate in the country of Fiore. It tasted so heavenly with sugar added, making it simply delightful. Lucy cut up her second slice with a spoon, before feeding it to Sting in a cute manner like some girlfriends would do for their boyfriends.

"Thanks for making me feel better, Lucy. You're a really kind and cool girl, and getting to know you is just the most awesome thing in the world to me. Without you, I'd probably still be the same jerk from last year who was manipulated by Minerva to help Sabertooth win the Grand Magic Games. That's not the case with you, though. Instead of manipulating me, you encourage me. I couldn't ask for a better partner." Sting told her in a kind tone while making his left hand touch her right hand in an affectionate manner as he smiled while looking into her beautiful brown eyes.

Lucy responded happily while giggling a bit, blushing a light shade of pink from Sting's soft hands touching her hands, "Sting, those are the sweetest things that you have ever said to me! I only learned how to be more confident from being by your side on jobs, and I love how I'm getting to know you as well. You're such a great guy, better than Natsu or any other guy in Fairy Tail, and you really make me feel like I can do anything with courage in my heart."

They could both feel their hearts beating from this beautiful moment that they were sharing while looking into each other's eyes, sensing the love that they had for each other, and Lucy smiled a bit from noticing that her boyfriend still had some creamy chocolate on his lips. She slowly leaned over the table, preparing to get the delicious off with a very sweet kiss that Sting would certainly share with her, but the sound of Sabertooth's entrance doors being kicked open certainly put a halt to her simple yet perfect plan.

* * *

Sting quickly turned his head to see that Team Natsu had just barged into the guild, and Natsu looked angry. What could they possibly be here for, and what could be so upsetting to them? Lucy could only wonder if they had come here to try and pick a fight with Sabertooth, since that is something reckless that Natsu would do, and she saw the flames that were engulfing his fists. She had also wondered if they had come here to take Wendy back to Fairy Tail, even though she had left of her own free will.

"This is the only place in Castelia Town that we haven't checked! We know how much you bastards hate us, so give it back! Tell us where that red book is, or I'll burn you all down in the biggest blaze possible! None of you losers can reach up to my level, anyway!" Natsu exclaimed with an angry look on his face, as he glared at everyone in the guild's lobby while intending to find what he was looking for.

The white dragon slayer noticed that Natsu had been looking around the guild, but he hadn't looked in the direction of Lucy yet. Wendy was in that same direction with Carla and Happy, and Sting certainly did not want a dramatic guy like Natsu causing problems for people who had left the guild because of his behavior. He made white light engulf his hands while telling Natsu to calm down and leave, or he would forcefully be charged with trespassing on another guild's property, but the fire dragon slayer simply punched Sting in the face.

This made Lucy gasp in shock, worried for Sting, and she became even more concerned when Natsu used his Fire Dragon's Sword Horn to slam Sting into the wall before hitting him with fiery punches that made him scream in pain. Sting was burning from the heat, since Natsu was being very vicious enough to not even stop for a second, and seeing him was definitely making Lucy's blood come to a boil. She couldn't believe that Natsu was now trying to kill her new boyfriend because he told that dense idiot to leave the premises, and Lucy's building rage caused her orange spell book to emit orange beams of light from the fifth section where the Earth Magic was located.

Sting gestured at Lucy to run past the other members of Team Natsu while she still had a chance, and he smiled a bit from seeing her use the non-spell ability of lightning speed from the Lightning Magic. He thought that she had used that to flee quickly, but then something surprised him and Natsu. Lucy came in between them, a stern look on her face while anger entered her brown eyes, and her emotions kept up building up while she proceeded to start off this battle with quite a rocking rumble.

"I call upon thee, the first spell, Rocky Roll!" Lucy shouted with strong emotions in her voice while the orange spell book continued to glow, taking Natsu and Sting by surprise.

A brown boulder appeared on her left hand, and she threw it like a bowling ball towards Natsu. He evaded the attack, following up with Fire Dragon's Roar as a means of paying Lucy back for humiliating him, but Lucy's boulder rolled back around quickly to shield its blonde master from the flames. This spell turned Natsu's flames into mud, making the boulder grow in size while it rolled even faster, and it managed to strike him from behind with tremendous force. An orange blast of Earth Magic transpired, but all of its power was concentrated into one point to damage Natsu.

When the smoke cleared up, the fire dragon slayer was almost unconscious while he was down on the ground. He tried to stand up, but Lucy grabbed him by his spiky pink hair and repeatedly slammed his head against the ground with massive amounts of force for trying to hurt Sting. She also wanted payback for what Natsu had done to her as well, and she also slammed her left fist against his back with a punch that was as hard as the densest rocks in Fiore. Despite all of that, the fire dragon slayer's durability helped him stand up again.

He turned around to face Lucy, a bit shocked to see that she was in the town that was across the sea, but he was more angry with her for defending his greatest rival. He threw a large fireball at her, hating the fact that a supposed weakling got in his way, and this prompted Lucy to activate the second spell of Earth Magic. It was known as Sand Fang, and this move caused Lucy to unleash four beams of brown sand from her hands. They all took the shape of a beast's mouth, having numerous fangs, and they all bit Natsu's fireball at the same time.

While this attack seemed mediocre, the sand mouths were eating away at the fireball while crushing it with enormous pressure. They all lunged at Natsu, determined to help their master, and the sand mouths bit down hard on his arms and legs. Natsu screamed in pain from the sand crushing his body with intense pressure, biting with a grip that kept getting tighter, and the sand began to make painful gashes in his arms and legs. He growled angrily at Lucy, not determined to let her get the best of him, but who had the stronger conviction?

Seeing no other choice, Natsu told Lucy in a harsh tone while glaring at her as flames engulfed his fists, "All you ever do is use that book's spells, you idiot! They can't power you up at all, but I'm fired up enough to show you why weak trash was never allowed on my team! Prepare to lose, you little weakling, and this fight won't be interrupted!"

He charged at her while running at high speeds, his fists blazing brightly, and Natsu swung a punch at Lucy. However, she quickly leaped back and narrowed her brown eyes at him while activating the third spell that was known as Rocky Combat. Lucy's fists and bare feet became surrounded by an orange aura, and she jumped up into the air while more power was building up in the palms of her hands and on the soles of her feet. Natsu jumped high in the air above her, looking down on her in a literal and mocking sense, but Lucy waited for his descent. When he was coming down near her, Lucy dealt a powerful uppercut to his jaw.

She began to deliver a series of powerful punches and kicks to Natsu's body, really making him feel the pain that he had caused her, and Lucy felt the Earth Magic boost up her attack power with every hit. She used one last punch to catch Natsu off guard, but then Lucy grabbed Natsu's left leg before throwing him down to the ground with all of her might. The fire dragon slayer was sent smashing hard into a table, crashing right through part of a wall in the guild, and this spell had exponentially increased Lucy's strength with every hit. A 24-hit combo would certainly knock out Natsu, that's for sure.

Lucy asked the other three Fairy Tail mages in a heated tone while she panted a bit, looking somewhat aggressive while the orange aura surrounded her body, "Does anyone else want to try and hurt my boyfriend?!"

Lisanna and Gray stepped back quickly, not wanting to be caught in the fray, but Erza just stood there with a surprised look on her face. She could not believe that Lucy had joined the guild of Sabertooth, the rival guild of Fairy Tail, and Erza looked even more surprised to see Wendy here with Carla. Even Happy left the guild because of Natsu's antics, surprising the scarlet-haired mage. Wendy even had the Sabertooth guild mark replacing the Fairy Tail insignia, still in blue, and Erza couldn't believe that her friends wouldn't be coming back.

* * *

Erza could see the heated temper in Lucy's brown eyes, the orange aura around her body giving off a tremendous amount of magical power, and the scarlet-haired woman just had to wonder why she was sensing this animosity from Lucy. The blonde mage had every right to hate Natsu for the things that he did, but she really hated him to such a degree where her emotions were strengthening her level of power by this much? Erza knew there was no way for her to stop this level of power, and she motioned for Gray to try and cool Lucy down with some ice.

The ice mage gulped a bit with some worry in his dark blue eyes, as he unleashed ten large ice shards to try and freeze Lucy, but she unleashed the fourth spell of Earth Magic to end things here. This spell was known as Muddy Bombs, and the effect caused Lucy to spit ten blobs of brown mud from her mouth. When one made contact with an ice shard, a large orange blast of energy would occur with the side effect of leaving behind sand that would enter Lucy's hands to give her some more energy and defensive power.

As the fourth spell had taken a lot out of Lucy, she had managed to cool down and pant heavily while Erza asked nicely, "Wow, Lucy. You're dating Sting? He's taking good care of you, right?"

Lucy responded kindly while glaring outside at Natsu and eating a piece of the wall that had fallen apart, restoring her energy with Earth Magic, "Yeah, he's the best boyfriend that I've ever had. Sting is the greatest guy ever, and he was really sweet when we had our first kiss."

Gray had gone over to Natsu for him to apologize to Lucy for the conflict that he started with her, but he could only be frozen with shock like when Lisanna had coldly rejected him. Natsu couldn't believe what he heard, and he couldn't believe what he was seeing when the white dragon slayer walked over to Lucy. He was unharmed, fully healed like Natsu never damaged him, and this was most likely because of him eating the light from Lucy's energy blasts. They certainly did have healing properties for a dragon slayer like him, and Natsu nearly felt like fainting when he saw Lucy and Sting share a soft kiss of victory.

Natsu dropped his jaw at the fact that he had not only lost Lisanna, but the girl that he tried to make jealous had actually moved on from him. Lucy wasn't even moping over Natsu like he thought she had been doing, and he could not believe that she was actually able to damage him. The pain from the third spell made Natsu clutch his chest tightly while his arms and legs were in excruciating pain, and Gray sighed in an annoyed manner while deciding to carry Natsu on his back. Erza also felt bad for the disturbance that Fairy Tail had caused, since Lucy had an orange book and not a red one, prompting Titania to leave Sting with a hammer made out of rocks that had been gathering dust in her inventory. The Rock Hammer could create and mold rocks to fix buildings, rather than destroying them, and all it took was one strike on or through the areas of damage.

While Erza and her team walked away from the Sabertooth guild, having supposedly failed utterly in their missions from Erza's viewpoint on the situation, Sting asked Lucy as he looked pretty curious, "Hey, Lucy. Instead of ending it so quick, couldn't you have just healed me first and let me handle Natsu afterwards?"

"You know how much I don't like Natsu for what he did, and I wasn't even using my full power to beat him down into the ground where his low attitude is located. The Grand Magic Games is where this will all finally be settled, or maybe it'll all end for Natsu in the Grand Fiore League." Lucy replied coldly with a harsh look in her brown eyes, before trying to brush her dark thoughts aside and enjoy the fact that she was now on the competing team for the guild that was run by the guy who could always make her present and future better than her past.

* * *

**How was Chapter 14? Did you like it? Sting and Lucy have gotten more development in their relationship, and they keep getting cuter! Sorry about Sting not fighting Natsu, but that will happen later in the story. However, he will show off his moves before that happens. Anyway, will Natsu ever regain Lisanna's trust? Will Lucy and another Fairy Tail mage meet up when an OC from that person's past catches up with them? Will this antagonist know Lucy as well? Standby for the update!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does. This story was made for fun, and not for cash. (How unfortunate.)**

* * *

**Chapter 15: Sweet Like Chocolate, Tough Like Rocks**

* * *

After two weeks had passed since Sting had announced who would be the team that would represent the Sabertooth guild in the Grand Magic Games or Grand Magic League, Sting was sitting down at a white patio table outside of a cafe in Castelia Town with Lucy sitting across from him. They were both starting off their morning with breakfast, respectively eating a plate of chocolate chip pancakes and a plate of waffles covered in maple syrup, and Sting had spent his time smiling at Lucy while he ate his pancakes.

She had saved him from Natsu's flames two weeks ago when the fire dragon slayer and his former crew had come looking for the spell book, and Lucy was really angry with Natsu for trying to hurt her new boyfriend. She had showed that jerk how he wasn't going to be a major part on the good end of her love life, and Natsu was the ex that the blonde mage really found to be intolerable. He had also continued to underestimate her, really irritating Lucy on that day, and Natsu really had no right to look down when she had nearly destroyed him once before.

While Lucy cut up her waffles, taking a big piece into her mouth, she frowned a bit while wondering how Fairy Tail could lose a spell book. The brown-eyed girl knew that Mirajane had the task of counting all the books, and she was Makarov's assistant. Mira had never missed a book before, so why would one suddenly be missing now? Also, why was Fairy Tail so quick to point the finger at Sabertooth? Just because the rivals of Fairy Tail got second place in last year's Grand Magic Games, they weren't bitter enough to steal a book.

As Lucy ate that piece of the golden waffle, tasting its crunchiness and sweetness, she also wondered why Erza knew so little about the book. She had told Lucy and Sting how the group of four had been searching for a red spell book, but Lucy's book was currently orange. Either the scarlet-haired woman did not know about the book's color-changing ability, or she needed to get Natsu's eyes examined if red had suddenly became orange to him. Both assumptions were quite possible, but the motives of her former guild left Lucy stumped.

She had opened up the orange spell book a few days ago to see that the other four spells of Earth Magic had been written, since her defenses and fierceness had become powerful and tough like the hardest rocks to break, and Lucy had also been gaining physical strength from using the Earth Magic. It didn't just involve manipulating the earth for attacks and defenses, but it made her punches and kicks become tough like the Earth Magic that Jura could create. She could even break through boulders with one punch now, impressing Sting.

Speaking of impressing him, the white dragon slayer had also taken a liking to Lucy's outfit today. She wore a simple blue T-shirt with a white miniskirt, and her flat shoes were forest green. She had a blue ribbon in her blonde hair as well, tying it in a ponytail on the right side, and Sting definitely thought that his girlfriend looked pretty fashionable. Lucy had been buying many outfits in Castelia's fashion district with some of the money from all the jobs that she did with Sting, and her fashion sense definitely made Sting love her even more.

He loved her fashion just as much as her passion for wanting to become a much stronger mage, and Sting had smirked a bit with confidence in his charming blue eyes while there was a brown flyer on the table. It was between him and Lucy, and Sting had found something a bit odd about this job. It was not all that weird in a bad way, but it just stunned him a bit before he shook off the shock by eating another one of his pancakes. Lucy curiously looked down at the flyer, seeing the reward for 700,000 jewels, but the client's name made her gasp and seem surprised.

Cana Alberona, Lucy's partner during the S-Class Promotion Trial that was held on Tenrou Island back in the year X784, had put up an interesting job request. She had wanted someone in Fiore to be her bodyguards while she handled a simple job in the town of Cioccolato. The flyer had unexpectedly been delivered to the Sabertooth guild, and Lucy saw it as a great chance to meet up with her old friend. After all, the two girls had not seen each other since Lucy left Fairy Tail. Her brown eyes were filled with happiness, thinking that this job would be easy and fun.

Sting, however, wasn't so pleased with this type of mission. If Cana was doing a job that was supposedly easy for her to handle, what could she possibly need help with? He looked a bit arrogant while openly wondering if Cana was a lazy person, earning him a little glare from Lucy, and she told him that Cana was one of her best friends. Sting could tell that there was more to this mission that what seemed to be the simple task of watching Cana win in a booze-drinking contest, and he had to wonder what was going on.

"I know that Cana's your friend, Lucy, but it feels like she's trying to hide from something. People don't usually need bodyguards for easy tasks that can be done at any given time, and this reward is really more than what the job is worth. You may think I'm just being paranoid, but the weirdness of this job request is really getting me intrigued." Sting told his girlfriend in a calm manner, while sternly looking down at the flyer while he began to make a few guesses about what could be transpiring.

Lucy responded with a happy facial expression, feeling confident about such an easy job, "There's nothing strange about being bodyguards for someone on any job, Sting. This job will be a piece of cake for us. Besides, I'm sure that we can easily restrain Cana from drinking out all the booze in Cioccolato Town if she tries asking for a few kegs of it. There's really nothing to worry about, Sting."

He wanted to believe his girlfriend's advice about the mission having nothing big in store for them, but Sting just couldn't shake the feeling that they were in for something that would be a bit surprising. He got up out of his chair and smiled confidently at Lucy, before gobbling down his last three chocolate chip pancakes. Lucy giggled a bit from seeing Sting eat so fast, and she decided to eat her waffles on the way to Cioccolato Town where Cana would be waiting. As Lucy stuffed the waffles into her mouth, before chewing her food, she didn't even see that the orange spell book that she held tightly in her left hand had begun to faintly pulsate with an orange glow once again.

* * *

**Meanwhile, at another cafe...**

The town of Cioccolato was known for its many chocolate desserts, making it a very sweet place for anyone to visit, and Cana sat down at a black patio table while she was seemingly reading a newspaper as well. She wore some sunglasses with blue frames and a cute blue hat as well, most likely being in disguise for some strange reason, and the card mage narrowed her purple eyes while her eyes kept shifting back and forth between her left and right sides. If she was supposed to be on a job, why did she have to do it in such a weird way?

Cana wasn't actually trying to be weird to the people who were passing by the cafe, but she was actually on the lookout for two important people. One of them was the bodyguard that had accepted her job offer, protecting her from danger, and the other person she watched out for was the danger itself. She had not told the Fairy Tail guild about this, not wanting to get any hate from anyone who had been good friends with this person before the seven-year gap transpired, but Cana was being chased by someone.

She was being hunted down by someone who used to be her friend when they were in Fairy Tail, but now this person had joined a dark guild. When Cana first encountered them two weeks ago, she thought that this girl would still be her friend. However, Cana was attacked by this person. She could not believe that her own friend had tried to attack her while they were laughing evilly, and the brown-haired woman had ran away before her former friend could deliver the finishing blow. Quite sad to be duped by someone who she was friendly with, right?

Cana had encountered this girl many times while she went out on jobs, and she had been attacked by her each time. Cana had always been forced to run away from the jobs because of this person, and they had been pretty infuriated when Cana had managed to escape from them. They had seen her as a weakling that they could pick on, and that was partly true. Cana's card spells had pretty strong defenses, but the attacks weren't exactly powerful enough to damage her predatory foe. How much longer could she keep this up?

She knew that it was only a matter of time before they found her again, and Cana also had to wonder who her bodyguard would be. She even wished that her friend Lucy was with her, but Cana also knew that her blonde friend was not physically strong enough to take on her new enemy. This person had really been quite strong when they were in Fairy Tail, useful as an ally, but now they had become enemies with their old guild because they were arrogant and thought that they were incredibly powerful.

Her former friend, Miyabi Kinzoku, had started this feud when Cana had finished a job on a moving cruise ship. She had been staring out at the ocean while being at the front of the ship with a smile on her face, until the purple-eyed woman heard soft giggling and footsteps coming from behind her. She had turned around to see that it was Miyabi, her friend from seven years ago, and Cana looked pretty happy to see one of her old friends. However, Miyabi frowned a bit before snickering evilly. She was the type of woman who was a user that hated weaklings, and she even told Cana that they were never friends.

Miyabi even chastised Fairy Tail's wins in last year's Grand Magic Games, stating that they were gained by getting lucky on the third day's events and fighting against weak opponents in the battles. She even told Cana that she was weak for being part of a guild that won because of the enemy surrendering, and she also stated how the Grand Magic Games were about eliminating your friends instead of being nice to them. Miyabi let Cana know that the moment she trusted her was the moment that she lost the battle, too.

Cana had thrown a few cards at Miyabi that would create immense jolts of lightning in the air to strike Miyabi from above, but the card mage looked pretty shocked to see her former friend make a large metal pillar emerge from her left hand to strike her down! The metal pillar also created grey explosions occur when it made contact with her cards and destroyed them, and Miyabi also struck Cana in her back with the iron pillar. Its power was enough to knock the wind out of her, and it also sent her falling off the ship before crashing into the ocean.

_"We were such good friends, and Miyabi was nothing but a dirty snake! She betrayed me, seeing our friendship as nothing, and now she wants to get rid of me to make herself amused. I can't even defeat her with my attacks, and my defensive cards can only protect me. I've been running away for so long, wanting some peace, and I don't even know if I can get it." _Cana thought to herself while sighing in a depressed manner, fear in her violet eyes, and she suddenly remembered the large chocolate cake that she had bought from the cafe.

She had it on the table in front of her, having already cut a slice of the delicious treat to enjoy in her mouth, and Cana managed to have slight smile on her face while she began to eat the slice with a fork. The card mage's thoughts also drifted back to when Lucy had used that strange book to defeat Natsu, but Cana knew that was a form of Holder Magic. She knew that Lucy wouldn't be any good without her book or the keys, and she had probably gone to a faraway land to be far away from guys like Natsu.

"That's a very nice hat you're wearing." A feminine voice said in a somewhat sweet tone, as the person's footsteps came towards Cana from behind.

She replied kindly while smiling, before gasping in shock when she turned around to see who gave her that compliment, "Thank you. That's sweet. Who are you, by the-"

* * *

**20 minutes later, in another part of Cioccolato Town...**

Sting and Lucy had arrived in the town of Cioccolato, a place that was located in the northern part of Fiore, and they both took notice of the shops selling many desserts in the flavor of chocolate. There were even warm plates of chocolate chip cookies on sale at the merchant shops, and hot chocolate was also being sold at a high price. This place had been thriving off of its desserts like Snowpoint Town was, but it wasn't in a distant land. Lucy shivered a bit from the cold air that came from a nearby bakery that was obviously hardening the chocolate, and Sting smiled while they walked down the paved street.

He loved to hold hands with Lucy, and the white dragon slayer knew that they could have some fun while being on this job. Sting noticed that his girlfriend was smiling confidently, ready to help Cana with whatever she had to do, and fierceness had made its way into her brown eyes. She seemed really prepared to see her best friend once again, and Lucy was going to do her best with whatever the task would be. The brown-eyed girl could feel strength welling up from within her, and she had definitely become strong like her Earth Magic.

Despite seeing Lucy be really happy about this job, Sting could tell that something was weird about this job. If it seemed supposedly simple, why had Cana called for bodyguards? She wasn't exactly a famous person who would be swarmed by adoring fans, and Lucy had informed Sting that Cana wasn't the type of person to have many enemies. She was certainly one of the nicer Fairy Tail mages, and the brown-haired woman could finish ten kegs in one day. Sting could buy the fact that Cana was nice, but the mission still seemed to be hiding something from him.

While he narrowed his blue eyes at the situation, Sting's eyes were met with what appeared to be chocolate and peanut butter brownies. Lucy had bought a plate of them from a nearby bakery that had just started its business hours, and she smiled happily while putting one into her mouth. There was steam coming from the brownies as well, allowing their sweet smell to reach Sting's nostrils, and he arrogantly grinned while taking one of the eleven remaining brownies from the plate. With her at his side, this mission would probably not be as tense as he imagined it to be.

Sting even noticed that the town had an entire museum dedicated to all of the types of chocolate in the country of Fiore, and he could tell that this job would have its good points. Even if Cana really did need something simple to be done, then why would Sting see it as mediocre? He could just show off his skills, getting the job done faster than Cana or anyone else, making him be admired by this town as well. He really was glad about that plan entering his head, and it wouldn't have been there if Lucy hadn't convinced him to go on this job with her.

As Sting and Lucy both took brownies from the plate, eating them before they were going to share a great kiss that would taste like chocolate and peanut butter, both mages looked shocked to hear an explosion of some kind transpiring somewhere in the town. There wasn't anything to celebrate today, and fireworks could not really be good to be used in the daytime. The sounds of a building being destroyed could be heard, and Sting's enhanced hearing also managed to pick up the sounds of someone groaning in pain. Was he right about this job having more to it than how it originally seemed?

"It sounds like somebody is in trouble, Lucy, and we can't let any innocent people get hurt here. Someone is using magic to do something, and they're doing it only in one area of the town. Let's go there, and see what exactly is going on." Sting explained to his girlfriend in a calm manner while he began to look stern at the sight of a third explosion taking place.

Lucy responded with a confident facial expression, speaking in an ambitious tone of voice, "You're right, Sting! Let's go check this out, and see who it is! I just hope that Cana managed to run from those explosions."

* * *

It was interesting to note that Lucy had mentioned Cana because the card mage was actually the one clashing with somebody right now. Her attack spells had made a lot of smoke appear, but it all cleared up quickly to reveal that her opponent had taken no damage from her attacks. Cana groaned in frustration from the sight of the enemy blocking the spell that didn't even leave a tiny mark, and her enemy's spells of metal had just destroyed a nearby building as a clear demonstration of her power.

She was Miyabi Kinzoku, Cana's former friend, and she had long pink hair that was tied on top of her head in two large buns. She had strawberry pink eyes as well, and her skin was rather fair. She wore a long and slightly loose white kimono with a red stripe in between two black stripes around the waist as well, and her high heels were pink as well. She wore red lipstick, making her look just as attractive as her curvaceous figure, and Miyabi was really as deadly as she was seemingly beautiful.

Miyabi had been hunting down Cana to end their little game of tag, since she really hated Fairy Tail for still having weaklings in their ranks, and she was also shocked that they managed to win the Grand Magic Games in the end. However, this was deemed as pure luck by Miyabi. She enjoyed picking on weaklings in any guild, and she found it fitting that Cana was alone. She wanted to get rid of her first, and then she would show everyone how pathetic Fairy Tail really was. Besides, Miyabi had also enjoyed the fact that Cana was dumb enough to think that they were ever friends.

She was a real bully, enjoying the fact that she could pick on weaklings without much resistance, and Miyabi was really tired of this game of chase that she had played with Cana. She unleashed a large metal pillar with spikes on it from her hand, only to see Cana defend herself with an Energy Dome Card. This card made a blue dome of energy surround Cana, protecting her from any kind of attacks that came her way, and she exhaled a soft sigh of relief from seeing that the spell worked. Could she keep it up forever, though?

Miyabi narrowed her pink eyes, clenching her fists tightly, and she fired several metal orbs from her hands. The grey orbs were covered in black spikes, looking pretty deadly, but Cana used another one of her shield cards. This card made a circular disc-shaped shield float in midair, letting Cana stay behind the large shield, and it completely neutralized Miyabi's attacks. The pink-haired woman groaned in frustration from thinking that Cana would just run away again, and the card mage started looking a bit more confident when she realized something.

"You're right, Miyabi. Attacks from my cards are not strong enough to knock you down, but your magical power will keep getting depleted as you fail to get throug my defenses! I'm no threat if I can't damage you, but you're no threat if you also can't even land an attack on me! You can cast spells to your heart's content, if you want to!" Cana shouted in a confident manner, knowing her plan would definitely end this battle.

Miyabi replied in a vicious manner, arrogance in her pink eyes, "I can cast spells to my heart's content, you say? Well, this next one will silence you for good! It happens to be one of my favorites!"

She shot out a spiked grey orb from her left hand, and the orb was on a chain while it appeared to be bouncing towards Cana. The orb kept jumping in and out of the ground, making Cana a bit nervous about it, and she used another Energy Dome Card to defend herself. However, that simply made Miyabi smirk with delight. As the blue dome of energy surrounded Cana, Miyabi made the spiked ball go into the ground and emerge from beneath the dome where Cana thought she was safe. The power of the spell was immense, as the spiked ball hit Cana hard in the stomach, and it made her cough up some blood while also nearly knocking her unconscious.

Cana groaned in pain from feeling the full brunt of that spell, and she tried her best to stand up. However, that only caused Miyabi to make a spiky metal pillar quickly emerge from her left hand to finish off her weak prey. The metal pillar struck Cana with tremendous force, sending her smashing into a nearby bakery, and the brown-haired woman could barely even move because of the pain from the pillar and the impact with the bakery. She had only wished that fate had allowed her bodyguards to reach this place sooner, since she could hear Miyabi's evil laughter while the antagonist walked towards the damaged bakery.

As Cana had given up hope of even surviving this battle against her foe, she and Miyabi suddenly heard a familiar voice shout in a fierce tone, "I call upon thee, the fifth spell, Rocky Detonation!"

This spell caused the rubble in front of Miyabi to be surrounded by an orange aura, and every piece of the damaged building began to float upward from the ground. Miyabi looked a bit confused from seeing not only large pieces of rubble in the air, but small pieces as well. When one of them was sent flying towards her, she simply laughed it off. However, even the smallest piece of rubble made a powerful explosion of Earth Magic. She was sent sliding backwards, only to met with all the other chunks of earth causing bigger explosions in a chain sequence with more power involved.

Cana looked up from laying on the ground to see that Lucy and Sting had arrived, and they had either seen what was going on or decided to stop someone from destroying the bakery. Cana did not have any idea that they were the bodyguards who accepted her job request, and Lucy looked pretty angry at Miyabi for what she had done to Cana. She was looking really fierce right now, tough as the earth itself, and Lucy planned to win against someone who had the nerve to pick on one of her closest friends.

The smoke cleared up to reveal that Miyabi had definitely taken damage from those attacks, and she could not believe what she was seeing. Lucy Heartfilia, the girl who was the newbie in Fairy Tail when Miyabi was there, had managed to now learn a new little trick. She angrily groaned in frustration, not going to allow herself to be done in by a weakling like Lucy, and she quickly unleashed the spiky metal pillar from her left hand. However, what would happen next was sure to surprise her and Cana.

Lucy called upon the power of the sixth spell, and it was known as Stone Slam. This spell caused a nearby large chunk of rubble to break apart into smaller pieces, and the ground also began to crack for the spell to work. More chunks of earth rose up from underground, circling Lucy in a fast manner like a means of defense, and Lucy continued to have that fierceness in her cocoa brown eyes while they now became narrowed at Miyabi. She could command the stones with simple thoughts, telling some of them to strike the iron pillar that was coming her way, and Cana looked appalled at Lucy's strategy.

While it seemed mediocre, the stones had enough power to create large orange blasts of Earth Magic that broke through the iron pillar. Miyabi looked pretty shocked to see one of her best spells be torn through like this, and Lucy's remaining stones struck her directly with intense amounts of power. They sent Miyabi falling to the ground, feeling tons of pain from the stones that had now turned into sand, and the antagonist began to growl in anger at the sight of someone supposedly inferior beginning to look down on her like this.

"You may have changed, since all those years passed by, but there's no way that weaklings like you and Cana can beat me! I am the definition of perfection, a great mage who rises above the trash heaps like you, and I'll destroy Fairy Tail to prove that you guys are just a bunch of losers! You can't possibly beat me, and my ultimate attack can't be stopped!" Miyabi furiously exclaimed with hatred in her pink eyes, growling at Lucy.

She stretched her arms outward, placing her palms next to each other, and Miyabi fired many large metal spikes from her hands! They were all aimed at Lucy, intending to stab her and cause major damage, but the blonde mage simply stood there while activating the seventh spell of Earth Magic. An orange aura surrounded her body, but what would it even do? Sting tried to divert the metal spikes with Holy Ray, but to no avail. He had to wonder why Lucy would just stand there and get skewed like that, too.

Miyabi laughed evilly at the sight of Cana's little helper being stabbed in many places by the metal spikes, and Lucy simply fell to the ground with her eyes and mouth still open. One of the metal spikes had struck her right in the heart, and two others had pinned her arms down to the ground while striking major veins. However, there was no blood coming out of Lucy at all. Miyabi walked towards her with a deadly smirk on her face while she lifted the blonde girl up by her hair, and she was delighted to see her look so pathetic.

However, the sound of something cracking had made everyone look curious. The cracking sound kept transpiring, and Miyabi's pink eyes widened in utter shock from seeing that Lucy's face was breaking apart. The rest of her body was breaking apart like a shell as well, prompting Sting to wonder if this was the power of the seventh spell. He simply called it Sand Shell, since sand was beginning to emerge from Lucy's broken body. Even the shell itself was turning into brown sand, leaving Miyabi to wonder what happened to the real Lucy.

Suddenly, she saw a hole be made from underneath her feet. Miyabi gasped in shock from seeing the ground crack, and Lucy came out of the hole while dealing a powerful uppercut to Miyabi's face. She grinned confidently from seeing that the seventh spell had worked just in time, and now the blonde girl was determined to finish this battle. She was going to win for Cana, and she was going to teach Miyabi a lesson about looking down on someone who had left Fairy Tail to become stronger.

As the orange spell book began to glow with Lucy's fierceness building up inside her, she looked in the book and smiled at what the final spell of Earth Magic could do. It was simply known as Roaring Earth, possibly a variation of the Earth Dragon's Roar that Suna could probably use, and the spell caused the orange aura to once again surround Lucy's body. She felt more power than before, almost like she was absorbing the hardness of the ground through the soles of her feet, and Lucy sprang up high into the sky.

She came back down with tremendous force, causing an earthquake to occur in Cioccolato Town for about 5 minutes, and the earthquake was powerful enough to have its seismic waves head mostly towards Miyabi. The ground around the antagonist began to break apart, rumbling around her, and it all exploded in a massive orange blast after a few moments. Miyabi was sent flying high into the sky, blasting off like she was part of a trio that always failed to capture an electric mouse, and now knowing how it felt to hurt others would hopefully make her never mess with Cana again.

* * *

The brown-haired woman had regained most of her strength while she had watched Lucy fight, and Cana was now able to stand up. She gasped in awe at the ground being damaged, but Lucy used a non-spell ability of Earth Magic to make the ground expand and repair itself while also giving it much more hardness to get that job accomplished. The blonde mage turned around to face Cana, who was still shocked at the fact that Lucy had gotten so strong with just that book. What kind of unorthodox author would make a book with spells like Roaring Earth, anyway?

Lucy exclaimed happily, seeing that her best friend was now okay, "Cana, you can walk! I hope you aren't hurt too badly."

"I'm fine, Lucy. It seems like you and Sting realized that I kinda made a fake job request, too. I'm sorry, but many other people in Fairy Tail talk about how cool and friendly Miyabi was to them. They've even seen her on jobs, and she acts so nice to them. However, you saw how two-faced she is. She just wanted to take down Fairy Tail for some recognition, which is just selfish and evil." Cana replied nicely while smiling at Lucy, happy to see that her friend was okay and had just saved her life.

When she had seen that Sting was accompanying Lucy on this job, Cana had to wonder if her good friend had joined the guild of Sabertooth. Lucy told her that her assumption was correct, and how life was getting really good for her over there. Lucy also asked Cana about the upcoming tournament, and the card mage informed her that it would most likely be the Grand Magic Games again. This made Lucy smile a bit, now knowing that she would possibly have five days to really show off her strength for her new guild, and Cana would probably be looking forward to seeing it as well.

Upon noticing that Sting had been eating the plate of chocolate and peanut butter brownies during the whole fight, Lucy looked appalled to know that her boyfriend had eaten them all while she was fighting Miyabi. He was either really hungry, or the fight was incredibly exciting that he had to eat all of her brownies. As Lucy looked a bit miffed, the loud growling of her stomach caused Cana to laugh and happily suggest that they all go get some chocolate to celebrate this reunion and great victory.

As the trio walked off, Karen emerged from the shadow of a pebble. She had seen the whole fight, seeing the Earth Magic contain the greatest spells that she had ever seen, and the woman with silvery-blue hair smirked a bit while knowing that Lucy was continuing to use the book to great heights. She was becoming much more powerful with every spell, despite only being able to use one type of magic at a time, and Karen knew that the blonde maiden was getting to where she needed to be.

_"She has a very great heart of light, so nice and pure, but she is still lacking the emotions of my master. Sweet little Lucy, you're so beautiful yet you still keep your negative emotions dormant. Using the darkness on Natsu would make him never bother you again, but you don't have it. No need to worry, though. You've already broken five seals, and I think that destiny will send the sixth one to you after it shows Fairy Tail how your retribution truly feels. Ah, yes. My master will be pleased, and you will know eventually that your role as the book wielder is..."_ Karen thought to herself while snickering in a sinister manner, not wanting to reveal her thoughts to anyone who possibly possessed telepathy in the area.

* * *

**How was Chapter 15? Did you like it? Sorry if there wasn't much StiCy, but there will be more in the next chapter. The plot was changed a little bit, and the NaLi will also be in the next chapter. The grand event is also coming up, and you may vote in the poll on which one you'd like to see. Anyway, what will Natsu learn as he tries to regain Lisanna's trust? Will Lucy and Sting continue to get cuter? What will Gray and Juvia think when they come across something unnerving? Standby for the update!**


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does. This story was made for fun, and not for cash. (How unfortunate.)**

* * *

**Chapter 16: Misinterpretations and Mistaken Identity **

* * *

Three more weeks had gone by, ever since Lucy had broken the fifth seal in the mysterious spell book, and she had been improving her physical strength to help her spells of Earth Magic gain some more support. She had also tested out the other types of magic, wondering how they were doing when they were not in use, and Lucy was very surprised to find out that her four other types of magic were much stronger than before. A single Aqua Ball could make a big splash of water, and the many puddles that it left behind would result in a few blue blasts of energy.

Every single blue blast of energy from the Water Magic had made the initially struck object shine in accord with a blue glow surrounding every piece of it, and Lucy had remembered the chain power of her Water Magic. When seven blasts had transpired, that caused the power of a spell like Scalding Shot to be increased exponentially. Spells such as Sapphire Shield and Azure Ace had grown a lot without the chain power as well, making Lucy become more and more intrigued about the kind of spell book that she was using.

Her Wind Magic had also improved a lot since the time that she last used it, and spells like Aerial Disc had become incredibly powerful. The number of discs had also gone up from three to ten, and the green buzzsaw-like blade projectiles had grown in size. They were now powerful enough to cut through many things in a row with ease, and they created large emerald green blasts of Wind Magic. The other spells, mainly Wind Cannon and Sky Impact had also become pretty high-level spells that could be used in battle.

Lucy's Fire Magic had grown by three levels, unlike the Water Magic and Wind Magic that had respectively grown by five and four levels to be on equal footing with the other types of magic, and the blonde mage had found her Fire Magic to really be capable of causing quite a blaze. She had been testing these spells out on a volcanic island near the country of Fiore, and Lucy had been very surprised to find that some attacks like Flame Cutter had considerably increased in power. One slash had made flames and volcanic liquid enter the volcano, and it caused an eruptive explosion that made news around Fiore. Thankfully, Lucy and Sting had left that island before they could get hurt.

Finally, her Lightning Magic had ascended in power by two levels. Lucy had noticed that all of her lightning spells had not only grown larger in size, but they had also gotten faster as well. Even Electric Vortex had become faster because of the lightning and earth seals now being broken, and its power could probably even rival a defensive spell like Jura's Rock Mountain. Lucy's Earth Magic had obviously grown by only one level, since it had only been around to experience one seal being broken, but the orange spell book had made all five types of magic be at the same level for perfect synchronicity with their master.

Due to the slow week, Lucy and Sting had been looking bored while they sat at a table with their friends to enjoy breakfast. This morning seemed rather calm, something that was a bit delightful to Lucy, but the brown-eyed girl was also surprised that nobody needed any help from the second-best guild in Fiore. Normally, the request board would be filled with job requests. However, only a few could be found. Why wasn't a copious amount of jobs coming into Sabertooth, and what could be the reason for something like this to transpire?

"Man, you have to be kidding me! It's the fifth day of the week, and not many jobs are on the board! It's almost like nobody in Fiore needs much to be done, and that sucks! I can't go a day without showing off my skills to people who are in need!" Sting exclaimed in an annoyed manner, looking pretty upset at the lack of jobs in his guild.

Lucy replied nicely with a soft smile on her face, putting her left hand on her boyfriend's right shoulder, "Don't worry, Sting. I'm sure that more jobs will come in tomorrow, and everyone will be able to make some money. Besides, you just need to calm down and give some thought to this dilemma. If other guilds are getting jobs while we have none, then there's something going on."

Her response to Sting's complaints had made Rogue, Frosch, Lector, Yukino, Orga, and Rufus all give her confused looks. They thought that Lucy's suspicions were strange at first, but then Rogue looked a bit more calm about this. Lucy could be right about her assumption that something was going on, probably someone trying to make Sabertooth look bad by not giving them many jobs to make them seem like an unreliable guild, and the shadow dragon slayer narrowed his red eyes when he knew that the post office in Fiore would have some explaining to do.

As Lucy began to smile a bit, she also took notice of Yukino taking her orange spell book for a moment. The woman with light blue hair had been wondering about this strange book for quite a while now, and she told Lucy that the languages in her book were definitely not from the modern era. They seemed to be more olden than foreign, and Yukino seemed curious about the creator of this book. Lucy had told her how the book worked with its sets of spells and certain conditions that she had to abide by, but Yukino could tell that this was no ordinary spell book.

Since it was something that seemed to have originated from long ago, Yukino smiled a bit while she came up with a creative idea. Lucy had informed her about the different colors of the text, some colors meaning that the spells were completely unreadable to her right now, and Yukino had to wonder if the Celestial Spirits that she and Lucy wielded could decipher the ancient languages. It would be a pretty good idea, and both girls knew that Lucy had been getting much stronger. They didn't know that one of the book's curses affected her abilities with her keys, though, and let's just say that using two keys would not make her be depleted of major amounts of stamina.

While Lucy decided to summon out Virgo and help Yukino with this idea of hers, something had caught the interest of Lector. The red Exceed looked over at the request board for a split second to see that it was now filled with jobs, and shadowy black puddles began to disappear like someone was trying to hide. Lector blinked twice, making sure that he wasn't seeing things, but he had also noticed that nobody else had seen what he had just witnessed. Why would the shadows be bringing jobs to Sabertooth?

* * *

**Meanwhile, at Fairy Tail...**

Lisanna and Erza had just come back to the guild after finishing a few jobs together, and they had known that Gray was out somewhere with Juvia. Apparently, she really needed his help with something that she couldn't do on her own, and Lisanna giggled a bit from knowing how Juvia loved Gray. He probably wouldn't like what she had in store for him, but it wouldn't be anything bad. After all, Juvia was a kind person. Despite her overactive imagination at times, she was still one of the nicest mages in Fairy Tail.

Speaking of mages who were being nice, Lisanna looked a bit shocked to see Natsu trying to give her a friendly smile. What in the world was he thinking? She didn't exactly find him to be all that great anymore, and the white-haired mage had seen how he treated Lucy when the foursome came to the Sabertooth guild for their search about the missing book from Fairy Tail's library. Natsu had acted so rude to Sting, the guild master of Sabertooth, and Lucy simply gave bad karma to the fire dragon slayer.

He truly deserved it for being such a jerk to her, trying to make her jealous like it was some fun little game of his, and bullying her was not exactly the way to make someone want to stay in a guild. No wonder Lucy felt no remorse about leaving. Natsu had caused her so much trouble after he had kicked her off the team like she was a worthless pawn in his game of chess, and he sure looked shocked at the sight of Lucy kissing Sting. Lisanna hadn't interpreted his feeling of shock in the right way, though, making her resent him even more.

She saw his shock as wanting Lucy back after he had been low enough to kick her off the team in such a rude way, and Lisanna really had to wonder if she ever even meant anything to Natsu. She really felt like he didn't love her at all, and he had just been using her to make Lucy jealous. Lisanna did not want to be some trophy that Natsu could flaunt for everyone to be envious of, and she had really wanted to be on good terms with Lucy. She probably felt very annoyed at the sight of Fairy Tail picking a fight with Sabertooth, too.

As Natsu began shouting her name and waving, Lisanna could only turn away with her arms folded. She gave him an uncaring look, similar to the way that he had kicked Lucy off of Team Natsu, and Erza didn't feel like saying anything about it. She didn't want this drama in Fairy Tail to keep going on forever, and Gray really would agree with her about not choosing sides between Natsu and Lisanna. The blue-eyed girl had tried to reach out to Natsu, but he would not listen to anything she said. Now she was giving him a taste of his own medicine.

Natsu sighed sadly while he looked at Erza, now knowing that this really was all his fault, and he really couldn't think of any clever way to get Lisanna back. He could probably ask Mira for help, but Lisanna could not be forced to get back with him. Love just did not work like that, and it had to really be earned. Trust had to be earned as well, and Natsu had lost Lisanna's respect for him when he had picked a fight with Sting. Lucy had put him in his place, but Natsu still could not admit that she was stronger than him.

He still couldn't believe that she had moved on to his fiercest rival, Sting Eucliffe, and Natsu thought that Lucy would still be crying over him. He thought that she would be thrown into deep depression because of what he had done to her, losing her willpower to even defy him, but the fire dragon slayer could not understand where Lucy was getting all of her strength from. She had become so much tougher than she had been before, looking much more confident, and his sadistic plan of making her jealous had certainly failed.

Natsu was still upset about the fact that he wouldn't be able to get back with Lisanna, not being able to even give out a proper apology, and he had to wonder if there was some way that he could fix it. He would do anything to win her back and not look like a total jerk, since that's what the entire Fairy Tail guild now thought about him, and exciting things like the Grand Magic Games were not in his thoughts right now. He had to make amends with Lisanna in some way, but what in the world could he possibly do?

"Come on, Lisanna! I made mistakes, ok? I screwed up majorly, ever since I kicked Lucy off the team, and I'm sorry about using you to make her jealous. I don't know what else you want from me, unless you'd like to fight this out with me." He had exclaimed in a saddened manner with puppy dog eyes, before looking a bit confident at the thought of fighting the white-haired mage.

She responded in a somewhat annoyed manner while looking like she would give up on him, since he had only realized a few of his wrongdoings, "You just still don't get it, do you? Lucy and I were really close to being friends, but you had to butt into that and cause problems! She probably hates me now, and it's all your fault! You attacked her boyfriend as well, and don't think that I didn't see how you looked like your whole world came crashing down around you when Sting and Lucy shared a kiss! You stabbed her in the back, and you did the same to me by not even showing me any love at all!"

"You've got it wrong, Lisanna! I was just shocked that Lucy moved on from me so fast, and I wanted her to stay depressed for me to bully her around! She would submit to anything that we would've told her to do, but that didn't happen! That's why I was so shocked, and seeing her in Sabertooth did come as a big surprise to me! I want to earn your love and trust back, ok? I'll do anything to fix my mistakes!" Natsu defensively stated while walking over to Lisanna, trying to let her know that he did want her to be back with him.

Those last two sentences certainly made her eyes become widened with some amazement, and she could not believe that Natsu had said something like that. He had wanted to reconcile with her and make up for what he had done, looking for a way to get through to the white-haired mage, and his begging had really given Lisanna a clever idea. She smirked deviously, thinking of something that would definitely make Natsu's apology seem like he really meant it, and she really did not care about what Erza or the other guild members would think about what she had in mind.

* * *

**In Gateau Town...**

Gray had just finished helping Juvia with her job of buying a mint green cake, not knowing that she had bought it for him, and the ice mage didn't even care to see that the top of the mint green cake was covered in the chocolate Oreo cookies without the filling included. He had really loved chocolate, unaware that Juvia had always been tailing him when he had gone to his favorite dessert shop in Magnolia, and Gray thought that she must've been buying it for Lyon to make him finally stay away from her.

Juvia had smiled at Gray while they walked down the street that was covered in brick and cobblestone, blushing a bit while she tried to make her right hand hold his left hand, and this was like one of Juvia's greatest dreams. She had always wanted to spend some time alone with Gray, wanting to be around the guy that she was in love with, and just seeing the slightest twinkle in his dark blue eyes was enough to make her sigh happily and probably faint from the sheer happiness that her heart would experience.

Even though he was out on a job with Juvia right now, Gray could not stop thinking about Lucy. He was pretty happy to know that she was safe and sound, but he never really thought that she would have joined the Sabertooth guild. He certainly hoped that Rufus would not be using his Memory-Make Magic to brainwash her into forgetting all of her friends who were in Fairy Tail, and he also hoped that she would not be plotting a war against her former guild just because of what Natsu had done to her.

Gray had really cared for Lucy, and seeing her saddened by Natsu was really painful for him to watch. Erza had told him that words of sympathy would only make things worse in the situation, and even giving Natsu some stern lectures had proven to be pretty useless. Gray just hoped that Lucy was enjoying her new life in Sabertooth, and maybe he would see her at the Grand Magic Games. He had also heard a few rumors about the Grand Fiore League that might be held in place of the Grand Magic Games, but either tournament would make somebody win a title of some kind.

As the ice mage kept on walking, he noticed that Juvia had stopped for some reason. He turned around to ask her what was wrong, wondering if the cake had been struck by bird poop or something, and he surprisingly saw the Rain Woman clenching her teeth while growling at the sight of something or someone who was up ahead. Gray looked straight ahead in the direction where Juvia was looking, and what he saw was really a sight for sore eyes to him. He had to blink twice to confirm what he saw, and his vision wasn't playing tricks on him.

Lucy had apparently dyed her hair purple, now having it in a violet color, and she had been wearing a purple top that looked similar to the one that she wore on the first day of the Grand Magic Games last year in X791. Her miniskirt was also black, and her flat shoes were lavender. Gray smiled a bit from seeing her here, wondering what she could be doing in this town, and he would gladly assist her with any job that she was on right now. He knew that Juvia considered Lucy as her love rival for Gray's affections, but he knew that Lucy only liked him as a friend. Buddies had to help each other out, right?

"Hey, Lucy! It's good to see you here! I'd be happy to buy you some cake or something!" Gray shouted to her in a friendly manner while smiling happily, a calm look in his dark blue eyes.

Lucy, or whoever he thought was her, had replied in a stern manner while turning around to face Gray and Juvia with an evil look in her amethyst purple eyes, "You've got the wrong girl, you idiot. How dare you mistake me for that sniveling little clown of a mage!"

At that moment, Gray and Juvia both gasped in shock at what they were seeing. This person who looked exactly like Lucy, except for the violet hair and amethyst purple eyes, was not the blonde mage that they both knew? Gray could see the harsh look in this girl's amethyst purple eyes, an evil look that Lucy could never really have, and he had to wonder why this girl looked so much like Lucy. She had never spoke of having a twin sister, nor did she ever seem like one had actually existed somewhere.

Juvia also looked a bit startled, getting a pretty strange vibe from this girl, and she didn't like it at all. Her magical power seemed to be different from Lucy's, much fiercer in some way, and it made the Rain Woman look alert while also knowing that she could not just leave Gray alone with this lookalike of Lucy. After all, Juvia couldn't stand to think of what this girl would do to the man that she loved with all of her heart. She glared at the violet-haired girl, who smirked at the Fairy Tail mages for mentioning Lucy's name.

"Tell me something, then. Have you seen Lucy Heartfilia lately? I'm just wanting to know if you destroyed her, that's all." The mysterious girl asked and told Gray in a calm tone, seeming like she knew Lucy from somewhere.

Not wanting Lucy's current whereabouts to be told to someone who had unknown and possibly dangerous intentions, Gray simply told the girl that he had indeed battled against Lucy when she had been wielding the red spell book. However, he made up a lie and said how she was strong enough for them to settle things on a draw and end the fight because he didn't want the guild to burn down in flames. Gray also informed this girl that Lucy's spells had tripped him up majorly, and he looked stern while hoping she would believe this lie.

However, his explanation only caused this girl with violet hair to snicker in a vicious manner. She could only see Gray's words as pure garbage, and she told him and Juvia to not even try joking around with her about Lucy. She let the ice mage know that if he had to be thinking that Lucy was powerful in her current state, then him and Juvia must've been the weakest team on Earthland. She had even brought up some of the opponents that the Fairy Tail mages fought in the Grand Magic Games and on their adventures, stating how Lucy was only surviving because she was fighting weak trash.

This comment greatly offended Juvia, who knew that Fairy Tail's victories did not come as easily as this girl made it sound, and she had really heard enough. If she wasn't going to do anything but stand there and dish out tough talk, then there was no reason to fight. Besides, Juvia had come to this town to buy a cake for Gray. She didn't plan on fighting anybody, and the Rain Woman had a fierce look in her blue eyes while letting this lookalike of Lucy know that there was no need to quarrel with her.

Gray and Juvia both saw no reason for fighting someone who didn't even seem tough, proceeding to walk away from this confrontation and head back to the town of Magnolia where the Fairy Tail guild was located, but this only made their new opponent speak in a darker tone of voice while her violet hair began to obscure her eyes. She let the duo know that they were both very naive for thinking that they could just walk away quietly from her without anything happening, and the doppelganger of Lucy threatened to destroy the town. Not wanting to let that happen, along with the stakes being too high if they were to refuse, Gray and Juvia requested that their battle be on the countryside route near Gateau Town.

* * *

**15 minutes later...**

After getting far away from the town, not wanting any innocent people to be hurt in this fight, Gray and Juvia stood on one side of the grassy field while their violet-haired opponent stood on the other side of it. Three large windmills were on the sidelines of the battlefield, letting their propellers spin while a breeze blew through the area, and Juvia had set her mint cake on the sidelines as well. She hoped that it wouldn't get damaged in any way, or she would definitely be teaching her opponent a lesson about messing with her love for Gray.

The girl with amethyst purple eyes revealed that her name was Darcy Homika, and she let the Fairy Tail mages know that it was bad luck for them to be standing before the "Escaped Reincarnation of Tsukiakari". This girl was either telling crazy lies, or she was truly the reincarnation that was brought back to life by some unknown type of magic. Either way, she looked pretty confident while staring down Gray and Juvia. If this battle would be two against one, then how could they possibly lose?

Narrowing his dark blue eyes, Gray looked stern while jumping up into the air and firing three large icicles at Darcy. They wouldn't actually come down upon her, since Gray was using this as a way to test her strength. He also wanted to see what kind of book or keys would be used by this girl, since she was a lookalike of Lucy, and he certainly hoped that none of her Celestial Spirits would be as powerful as Aquarius. He smirked a bit, seeing the icicles about to land in a triangle around Darcy, but something strange happened.

Much to his and Juvia's surprise, Darcy had not tried to dodge the icicles at all. She somehow knew that Gray wasn't actually trying to hit her, and she smirked a bit while the evil look was maintained in her amethyst purple eyes. Darcy used her first spell, and it was known as Ghastly Nightmare. This move caused a purple ball to be fired from the palm of her right hand, and it appeared to be from Darkness Magic. The purple ball struck one of the windmills, obliterating it while creating a large purple blast of energy, and Juvia thought that Darcy's aim was off.

However, Gray quickly grabbed his friend's left hand while getting her out of the way of the falling debris. Every piece of wood had a purple aura surrounding it, and purple blasts transpired when the pieces of wood hit the ground. Gray took notice of that unorthodox spell being similar to an attack that Lucy would probably use, but him and Juvia had managed to dodge all of the debris. He knew that Darcy would have to do better than that to defeat mages from the guild of Fairy Tail, and the ice mage also wondered about the other spells in her arsenal.

Darcy noticed that Gray and Juvia looked happy to have dodged that first attack, but her next spell would not be something to laugh about. It was known as Dark Efiálti̱s, and this spell had worked in conjunction with her first spell. All of the violet blasts had a side effect to them, and they caused purple silhouettes of Darcy to rise from the spots where her attacks had landed. They all flew towards Juvia, surprisingly passing right through her body like they were ghosts, and the blue-haired woman screamed when she felt like her stamina was being drained.

In reality, Darcy was actually using this spell to give herself more energy by absorbing every single bad thought in the heart and mind of Juvia. A purple aura surrounded her body while she could feel her magical power increasing, and she began to laugh evilly from stealing Juvia's magical power in such a cruel way. Gray attempted to hit Darcy with Ice-Make: Shotgun, hoping that his thick spears of ice would hit her, but her second spell had also allowed her to use its side effect. Her silhouettes taken the attacks for her, creating violet explosions in the process, and Darcy felt more power being transferred to her.

Deciding to take this battle into her own hands, most likely to help Gray, Juvia used her Water Magic to unleash a Water Cyclone down on Darcy from a cloud that was floating overhead. The vortex of blue water was about to come down upon the violet-haired girl to cause massive damage, but she quickly countered with a spell known as Haunting Betrayal. This spell caused Juvia's Water Cyclone to turn purple, changing its properties to now be a spell of Darkness Magic, and the large vortex of energy somehow struck Gray without even touching him! A large violet blast of Darkness Magic transpired, causing Darcy to snicker viciously.

Haunting Betrayal was a spell that allowed its user to distract its prey with a little nightmare, and hit them with its biggest impact from anywhere that they pleased. Darcy had imagined Gray being struck by the spell, and the purple smoke cleared up to reveal its side effect. Gray was now immobilized because of Darcy making the spell have intense properties of gravity as well, and he couldn't even lift a single finger because of all the pressure that was being forced down on him. Juvia looked very concerned for Gray, wanting to help him, but the ice mage told her to run away quickly.

"Juvia will not leave Gray-sama here! She will defeat Darcy, one way or another!" Juvia exclaimed with a determined facial expression, ready to try and beat Darcy with any kind of spell.

The girl with amethyst purple eyes replied evilly while harshly glaring at Juvia, "I guess it's time for me to end this little battle. Prepare to see the difference between me and Lucy, or I can give you more of a demonstration."

Before Juvia could even attack with Water Slicer, she noticed that Darcy's shadow was starting to change into something very strange. It began to rise up from the ground, having large red eyes and a wide mouth, making Juvia seem a bit uneasy. Darcy's shadow morphed into a dark purple, bipedal creature with a roundish body. Multiple purple spikes covered its back, and it had large pointed ears. Its arms and legs were short with three digits on both its hands and feet. It also had a stubby tail, too. This spell was known as Lunar Shadow, and its effect would not be good for Juvia.

Darcy's newly morphed shadow separated itself from her, and it shot out a large purple ball of energy from its mouth. This attack went up into the air, confusing Juvia, but then she and Gray both looked startled to see the Rain Woman being levitated into the air like gravity around her had been removed. She was now floating in midair, seeming surprised at what was going on, and Darcy's shadowy creature laughed when it made the purple sphere come down upon Juvia at fast speeds. It had gained power on its descent, and Juvia found herself now unable to move because of the gravity immobilizing her.

When the purple ball of energy struck Juvia with tremendous amounts of force, it sent her crashing back down to the ground! A large violet blast of energy transpired afterwards, blinding Gray's eyes, and he could sense the enormous power of this attack. The sound of the explosion was louder than Juvia's scream of pain, and the Rain Woman had taken an extreme amount of damage from the gravity smashing her against the ground. When the purple smoke quickly cleared up, Gray's dark blue eyes widened in pure shock from seeing Juvia unconscious with her eyes open. The gravity was now released from him, and he slowly stood up to go over and aid his friend.

"You monster! You are sick! You intended to kill Juvia!" Gray shouted at Darcy while looking stern, seeing some purple and bloody slash wounds on his friend's arms and legs.

Darcy responded calmly, smiling a bit at the effects of her spell, "You are one stupid idiot, you know that? She may be injured, but the side effect of my fourth spell eats away at the thoughts of the opponent and their allies. Maybe I'll rename it Dream Eater. Juvia will wake up in a few hours with those bruises having been healed, but she'll clearly remember all the pain of my spells. By the way, tell Lucy that-"

Before she could continue, someone came out of the shadow of a nearby windmill. Gray wondered what could be going on now, hoping more enemies hadn't arrived, and it was actually Karen. She rose from the shadows, surprising Darcy, but Gray did not know who this woman was. She smiled nicely at him for a split second, upon seeing him look down at his injured friend, and then the woman with silvery-blue walked over to Darcy. What business did she have to discuss with someone who seemed so cold and merciless?

"I have finally found you, rebellious one. You decided to escape from the book for some of your deadly fun, but I require your services for something that you should know of. Maybe you don't remember the legend, but your powers will be restored to their real versions when you transfer your aura of trickiness to the maiden's list. After all, she is perfect for the plan to commence. Your seal is one that's required, though." Karen explained to Darcy in a calm tone, smiling while cryptically referring to Lucy and the spell book.

The violet-eyed girl responded evilly, before turning into a purple aura and going into the shadows to find Lucy's book, "All right, fine. I'll help the little wimp, but she better be the one who can make the angelic skies see how great we truly are while they look down on us."

Karen disappeared into the shadows with Darcy, taking Juvia's mint cake to deliver it to the infirmary of the Fairy Tail guild for suspicion to not arise, and she left Gray looking pretty stunned. He had no idea about what had just happened, but he needed to get Juvia back to Magnolia. He would also inform Erza and Lisanna about what had happened, too. Why had Karen appeared for Darcy's seal? What in the world could she be up to, and what had her message meant? Gray carried Juvia in his arms, and he hoped that this was the end of the creepiness for the day.

* * *

**Back at Sabertooth...**

Lucy and Yukino had respectively summoned Virgo and Libra to try and read the unreadable words in the orange spell book, hoping for some kind of answer relating to why those spells weren't ready yet, and Lucy decided to spend some time with Sting while the Celestial Spirits tried to decipher the words in the spell book. Sting had been acting pretty bummed out all day, most likely because of the lack of jobs, and he didn't even notice that more jobs had filled up the request board. Of course, that was Karen's doing.

Sting had been smiling at Lucy while seeing how determined she was about figuring out the secrets of her spell book, and she looked pretty hot today in her white T-shirt and black pair of shorts. He had always loved her fashion sense, and Lucy could look good in almost anything. Sting had been wanting to take her out on another date, one that would not be interrupted in any way, but he knew what the chances were about that happening. He had also been unable to read the book, and the white dragon slayer couldn't even find copies of it in any bookstore in Castelia.

Wendy had even brought a few language books for Lucy to check out, but the characters in her spell book weren't in any language book. Even words of Orient Solid Script magic didn't even work with translating the book, making everyone even more curious. Sting was happy to see his girlfriend working so hard to accomplish something important, and that reminded him of what he had to do. Guild masters couldn't participate in the Grand Magic Games, and Sting had wanted to show off his skills. What thoughts had ran through his mind?

He told Lucy and everyone else while announcing his plan in an excited manner to help lift everyone's busy mood, "Listen up, people! I have finally decided on how I'll be in the Grand Magic Games! If I'm temporarily not the guild master, then I can participate! It's a perfect plan, and the first person who wants to be the guild master will get the title for the duration of the Grand Magic Games!"

Everyone seemed pretty startled by Sting's announcement, and it made everyone get curious. Who would be the new guild master of Sabertooth, and would this be a choice that Sting would not live to regret? His outburst provided the perfect distraction for Karen to come from the shadows and take the orange spell book when no one was looking. She put the purple aura into it, causing the spell book to also turn purple, and Karen put the book in Lucy's hands before disappearing into the shadows once again.

Virgo had whispered to Lucy in a calm manner, telling her something that she didn't hope to hear, "Those languages aren't in the Celestial Spirit World, my princess. I must be punished for failing you like this."

Sting confidently spoke while having happiness in his charming blue eyes, before kissing Lucy's cheek, "Lucy, you and I will now be on the team for the Grand Magic Games. I choose Wendy to be the new guild master for the duration of the tournament, and that's certainly not a bad idea."

Wendy asked curiously, her brown eyes having some confusion in them, "Sting-san, don't you know that the Grand Fiore League could be taking place? We still don't know what we'll be battling for, or how Sabertooth will be battling."

At that moment, Sting and everyone else had to wonder what would be happening. Could the Grand Fiore League be taking place instead of the Grand Magic Games? What in the world would happen?

* * *

**How was Chapter 16? Did you like it? This was more focused on the Fairy Tail side, in case you didn't know. There will be more StiCy in the next chapter, and that will be the prologue chapter to the main arc of the Grand Magic Games/Grand Fiore League. Also, Lucy's Celestial Spirits will have more of a role in this arc as well. I'll keep the poll up for a little while longer, and I won't reveal too many details. Standby for the next update!**


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does. This story was made for fun, and not for cash. (How unfortunate.)**

* * *

**Chapter 17: Darcy, Part 1**

* * *

After the next few weeks had gone by, all of the guilds in Fiore had found out the exciting news about what would be happening this year. They would be able to participate in the Grand Magic Games, the annual tournament that would decide the best guild in Fiore, and it would certainly be carefully watched over by the organization that created it. They didn't want anything like the Eclipse Project taking place this year, and the castle had now been off-limits for any tourists in the capital of Fiore.

Team Sabertooth had arrived in Crocus on the day of the preliminary round that would decide the eight teams that got to participate in the real competition tomorrow, and Lucy had a happy smile on her face. Upon seeing the many flowerbeds and flower shops on a street that the team was walking down on their way to the inn that was located in the Crocus Gardens, she ran over to a flower pot that had red roses growing in the soil. Lucy sniffed them deeply to take in their wonderful aroma, letting out a blissful sigh from the sweet scent.

She had always loved being around flowers, and the ones in Crocus had been handled with care every day. The roses always smelled really nice, and many other flowers were in the parks and meadows of the city. Crocus was a very beautiful place, and it also had some of the finest foods in Fiore. Lucy had remembered how the food tasted so great last year, and it would taste even better when Sabertooth won the tournament. She planned to win for her new guild, and hopefully end up beating Fairy Tail.

After all, Lucy had been wanting to really show Fairy Tail how she was so much stronger than her past self. She had thought back to all the times that Natsu had said she was so weak, and yet she had actually been the one to turn the tables on him. She wanted to make that rude jerk pay for what he had done to her, and Lucy really hated his attitude. She did not even want to talk with him during a fight, since all he would get from her was a fist to his mouth. She was going to show off her strength, and impress Sting.

"All right, guys. Don't have any doubts about entering the tournament, since we'll be the ones who win it! Last year may have been the year that kind of wrecked our rep of being honorable champions, since Minerva was so brutal to Lucy, but my girlfriend's current circumstances with Fairy Tail and our determination will make everyone see that we aren't a bunch of jerks!" Sting explained in a confident manner, smiling proudly while putting his hand into the air to create some kind of team gesture.

Everyone else touched Sting's hand, really ready to win this year, and they all knew that they had to bring their best efforts on to the battlefield. After all, the Grand Magic Games were known for their tricky events and match-ups in battles that almost seemed completely unfair. Sting had even thought of Yukino's battle against Kagura to be an unfair pairing, since Yukino's opponent had a sword that sliced through one of her strongest Celestial Spirits while the sword itself wasn't even unsheathed at the time.

Despite any planning that Team Sabertooth would be doing, they also knew that they had made a little bit of a numerical error on their part. Even though Sting wanted to be in the Grand Magic Games, having made Wendy the temporary guild master for the next five days, his participation caused the team to have six members instead of five. There could only be five members on each team for the final day, and someone also had to act as a reserve member on the four days that would transpire before the last event.

Orga was about to volunteer for that position, knowing how Jura Neekis from Team Lamia Scale knocked him out in one hit last time, but he was a bit shocked to hear Yukino volunteer to be the reserve member instead. She had a soft smile on her face, thinking that she would not really be that useful with only three of the Golden Zodiac Gate Keys, and the hazel-eyed Celestial Spirit Wizard also had secretly feared that she would make the same mistakes that she had made last year in her battle against Kagura.

Lucy had looked a bit disappointed from hearing Yukino say that she did not want to participate for most of the tournament, and the blonde mage had to wonder about her friend's soft smile. If she thought that her skills weren't up to par with everyone else's, then did she have the confidence about everyone else doing well? Rufus had even remembered how Gray Fullbuster beat him in the fight that they had in the library, and that made him look slightly nervous about this. History sure has a way of making people nervous, right?

Sting had even remembered how he lost to Natsu, forfeited in the Chariot event, and how he surrendered on the final day. He had caused Sabertooth to lose last year, breaking their winning streak, and the white dragon slayer knew that Fairy Tail had strong people in their guild. However, he also knew that he wasn't going to be manipulated by Minerva this year. Since she was gone, he could freely make his own decisions. He couldn't let Lucy down, though, since she was counting on him as well.

She had always believed that he could do anything that he put his mind to, and Lucy knew that Sting was really strong. He had also fought evenly with her last week when she was using all eight spells of Fire Magic to get him prepared for the possible chance of facing Natsu again, and Sting had noticed that Lucy's flames were really hot. She had been focusing most of her stamina into the Fire Magic, making its power grow to the absolute peak of perfection, and this growth also worked to balance her other types of magic with it.

Sting had taken notice of Lucy's book now being a violet color, meaning that some new type of magic had appeared in some way, and he wondered why that book had a tendency to act so strange. It had some of the weirdest spells, and the book itself would still have no modern languages. They were all written in olden words of different languages, and Lucy was still somehow able to read them. Sting had wondered what was up with the book changing colors like that, and he decided that this was a perfect moment for him and Lucy to have some quality time together.

With his fast hands, Sting took Lucy's purple spell book and laughed while running off with it. She looked utterly shocked at what he had just done, running after him quickly, and the other members of Team Sabertooth knew that Sting was up to something. Since the preliminary round would begin in a few hours from now, couldn't the duo use this game of chase to do some sightseeing as well? Sting was planning to give it back to her, but only if this chase would end in his favor. Would his strategy work?

* * *

**Meanwhile...**

The two teams representing the Fairy Tail guild had entered into Crocus, determined to make Fairy Tail win once again. Makarov was confident that his teams could succeed in whatever the Grand Magic Games threw at them, too. Team Fairy Tail A consisted of Natsu, Erza, Gray, Laxus, Gajeel, and Juvia while the others who were known as Team Fairy Tail B consisted of Cana, Elfman, Lisanna, Mirajane, and Jellal. (In this story, Jellal is not a criminal anymore and Ultear admitted to being the one who was responsible for his crimes.)

Natsu seemed a bit unhappy to be on a different team than Lisanna, knowing full well about the deal that she had tied him to for him to earn her trust back, and everyone certainly would be pretty shocked about what he was going to do. This deal was a way for Natsu to show Lisanna that he owed her for everything that he had done to make her feel hateful towards him, and she wanted him to know how she and Lucy had felt when he was being such a rude jerk towards them. What would happen?

Lisanna looked pretty happy while she was talking to Cana about something, giggling a bit, but that happy mood changed when her blue eyes saw Natsu giving her that upset look. She shot a devious grin at him, making the cut-throat gesture as well, but the white-haired mage quickly changed her tune when Gray began looking in her direction. He had heard about what happened from Erza, who had heard what Lisanna told Natsu when he wanted to earn her trust back, and this would definitely affect his team.

Earning the affections of a woman certainly came at a pretty high price, and Natsu was actually going to miss out on two things that he loved. He was probably going to lose Lisanna, mainly if his dense nature got the best of him, and his recklessness would be annoying for Lisanna to watch. Mira and Elfman could see how Natsu was looking right now, both siblings wondering about what Lisanna had done to make Natsu look so down in the dumps, and he didn't even seem fired up for the competition.

"Wow, flaming idiot. You must feel like a real loser now for what you did to Lucy, since Lisanna is giving you all this bad karma to deal with. She still won't even get back with you, and it's all because you just don't know how to use your head. I bet you were wishing that you hadn't kicked Lucy off the team now, huh?" Gray asked him in a deriding manner while he was glad to see that Natsu was seemingly eating out of the palm of Lisanna's hand like a hotheaded puppy that was finally tied to his leash.

Natsu angrily shouted, looking pissed off about Gray's little jokes towards him, "Shut up, you stripper! I could care less about that idiot Lucy, and I don't need to hear her name anymore! I caused her some problems, and now life is giving me my own set of issues! I don't need you laughing at me like I'm some kind of stupid monkey!"

Both boys glared at each other, once again disliking each other for their different views on this situation, but Erza's death glare scared them both into trying to act like friends. They saw the harsh look in her brown eyes, hating the fact that Natsu was indeed the one who had caused Lucy to leave Fairy Tail, and she was curious about what Lisanna had in mind for her ex-boyfriend. If it was something humiliating, then it might be shown to the entire world on the Lacrima Vision screens. Wouldn't that be a sight for sore eyes?

Unknown to Fairy Tail or Sabertooth, the Grand Magic Games would actually be doing a little bit of collaborating with the Grand Fiore League. They would still be having the various events, but the sponsors also were aware of Raven Tail's cheating ways last year. They definitely wanted this tournament to have some fairness to it, and that's why the battles would have a little twist. Even the preliminary event would be something exciting that was from the Grand Fiore League, but nobody knew what it would be.

Lisanna had a pretty devious smirk on her face while seeing Natsu's group walk past hers to reach the inn where Fairy Tail would be staying, and she was definitely going to truly make him pay for what he had done to her. She also saw this as a true way to show Lucy that they were really friends, and the blue-eyed girl just hoped that Natsu would hold up his end of the deal. She had even shook hands with him while making this deal, promising him something good as well, but the fire dragon slayer had to really keep his word with Lisanna. He owed her, you know.

* * *

**Elsewhere, in Crocus...**

Sting had stopped running when he had arrived at a grassy park, noticing that there was a concession stand selling dessert on the nearby street, and he prepared to get some cake for him and Lucy to eat. Speaking of his girlfriend, she had finally managed to catch up with him while panting heavily from running so far to get her purple spell book back. Sting noticed that Lucy looked pretty exhausted from all that running, and she tripped over her left foot while looking pretty confident about retrieving the book.

He had caught her before she could fall, letting the blonde-haired girl rest her head against his chest, and she sighed happily from feeling Sting's warmth. She wanted the book back, but Lucy found herself blushing when she looked into the charming blue eyes of Sting. She had no idea that he stole the book to not only privately discuss with her, but this was his way of luring a girl on a date with him. He loved to see Lucy in a determined mood, knowing she would be ready to take on anything, and taking her book was a great way to get her all psyched up.

Speaking of the book, Lucy and Sting still had no idea that Darcy was existing inside of it. She had an aura form, as seen in her fight against Gray and Juvia, but she could also take on a physical form to let herself out like she was a Celestial Spirit. The book would change Darcy's spells to fit Lucy, since the blonde girl was the current wielder of the book, and the Darkness Magic would still be in the book after Darcy left it. Karen had just sent her into it to make Lucy work with a sixth type of magic, thus working towards breaking the sixth seal.

Lucy and Sting decided to happily share a box of a dozen glazed donuts, wanting to have some sweet treats before the preliminary round of the Grand Magic Games would begin, and both of the mages took six donuts from the box. While Sting hurriedly ate his donuts, feeling famished from all of the running that he had done, Lucy had taken her time eating the donuts to enjoy the sugary taste. She always loved to eat sweets, since they were so sweetly delicious, and they went well with a sweet girl like Lucy.

Sting and Lucy were now sitting on a brown bench in the park with the purple spell book between them, and they both gasped in a surprised manner when the book began to glow with violet beams of light being emitted from it. Lucy opened up her spell book, turning to the sixth section of it, and she noticed that the words for the first spell were written in violet text. The unreadable spells had their text displayed in a lavender color, letting Lucy know that these spells could not be used yet, and she would have to work with one spell for now.

There was also another white card on the first page of the sixth section of the spell book, and Sting looked curious while he wondered about what rules this card had for Lucy. She had been getting fair rules that could easily be able to abide by, and the fact that other types of magic could join Lucy's book was a nice bonus as well. Sting narrowed his blue eyes, seeing Lucy slowly pick up the card to read it while looking a bit nervous about the spell book's new piece of advice, and both of them wondered what the card would say.

"Welcome to Darkness Magic, master of the purple book. You have unlocked a very versatile type of magic, since it is capable of assisting you in a few different ways. It focuses mainly on appeal when light is present, but its powers grow when darkness is near. Your heart possesses no real darkness, but this new type of magic may work well with your beautiful brown eyes." Lucy read in a somewhat shocked manner, seeing the conditions of this new type of magic, and she also seemed miffed at the fact that it was probably useless in the daytime.

Since the Grand Magic Games were normally going on while the sun was out, her Darkness Magic probably was useless. However, the card had let Lucy know that it could be used for appealing during the day. She now seemed a little confused by the card's words, since appealing with spells would not damage her enemies in the slightest, and Lucy wondered if this magic was tricky in some way. How would it work, and what in the world would her new moves be like? Would the sun's rays of joy not shine on her, since daylight was not like darkness?

Narrowing her brown eyes and clenching her teeth, Lucy shouted with strong emotions while looking at the first spell of Darkness Magic in her purple spell book, "I call upon thee, the first spell, Dark Optica!"

Lucy looked directly in front of her, seeing the grassy park with pink butterflies going on some flowers, but nothing had happened. She kept looking around, hoping to find that appeal, but nothing had worked. There was no sign of her spell anywhere, not causing something in the sky or making shadows change, and Lucy let out a frustrated sigh. She put her hands on her red T-shirt and blue jeans, wondering if they somehow changed, but they did not. What in the world was the purpose of these spells?

Sting calmly looked at his girlfriend, putting his left hand on her right shoulder to comfort her, and he began to notice that something was different. Her eyes had changed color from brown to purple, having a violet glow like they had finished charging up power or something, and this spell surprisingly had a unique ability. It allowed Lucy to shoot out a violet ball of Darkness Magic from her left eye, sending it high into the air, and it quickly popped like a balloon to make lots of purple glitter fill the sky.

This pretty sight also came with the added side effect of making the sky turn a lavender shade of purple, and Sting noticed his girlfriend looked like she was staring out into space. Lucy's eyes were now giving her a view of the entire city, letting her see everyone who was here in Crocus, and blinking her eyes would cause that person or thing to glow with a purple aura for a few moments. What in the world was that spell going to be used for, and how could Dark Optica be used as an attack move? Was it useless?

When Lucy regained her senses, her eyes changed back to being cocoa brown. The sky also became blue again, putting everything back to normal, but some people were still surrounded by the purple aura. Lucy wondered what was going on, as she saw the members of Team Twilight Ogre pass by while they seemed unaffected by her little spell, and she simply decided to just wait for the preliminary round to begin. Had Dark Optica really been deemed as useless by Lucy, or was it just waiting for the perfect charge?

Suddenly, many purple blasts of Darkness Magic began to occur all over the city of Crocus! People were being blasted upward into the air, some even being surrounded by the blasts when they fell off of rooftops, and even Team Twilight Ogre was sent blasting off into the sky. Lucy had remembered not seeing anyone she knew while using Dark Optica, and she also did not realize that the appeal part of the spell was not used in a cheerful way. The purple smoke that lingered from the blasts were causing people to sound like they were choking, having breathed it in, and Sting looked shocked at the spell's true effect.

Lucy and Sting were lucky that they were unaffected, just like their teammates who had no clue about what was happening, and the other members of Team Sabertooth had been on a street where no people were around. The toxic smoke was not going to affect them, but it had reached the lungs of the members who were part of many other teams. They fell to the ground, losing their chance at being in the Grand Magic Games since only full teams could enter the preliminaries, and they were unable to move while they were choking in pain.

Lucy thought to herself while looking happy at the sight of this, unaware that Team Sabertooth and seven other teams were safe from this temporarily-lingering and deadly spell that only targeted anyone seen in the Dark Optica attack, _"The book's spells are supposed to be used by me for good purposes. Why did this one create something so toxic and bad? Was that card telling me the truth, or do I have dark feelings inside me that I refuse to unleash. Why am I smiling at the sight of something so horrible and unintentional? Am I nice on the outside, but dark on the inside?"_

* * *

**How was Chapter 17? Did you like it? Sorry for not having the preliminaries, but I thought the ending would be more dramatic with some foreshadowing for you. Lucy has unlocked Darkness Magic, but it appears that her feelings are starting to merge with those of Darcy's to create a nice and deadly attack. It's because of their opposite personalities, really. What will happen tomorrow? Will Sting try to help Lucy see that it was the book, and not her who did such a horrible thing? Standby for the update!**


	18. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does. This story was made for fun, and not for cash. (How unfortunate.)**

* * *

**Chapter 18: Darcy, Part 2**

* * *

The following day, Lucy and Sting were at a coffee shop in Crocus to discuss the events that had transpired yesterday. This was also the first day of the Grand Magic Games, and Sabertooth had been informed that they were one of the eight teams left standing in the competition. They were lucky to have not been near the toxic side effects of Dark Optica, the first spell of Darkness Magic that surprised Lucy in a really big way, and she wasn't even looking all that proud to have technically passed the preliminary round.

That power from the book did not feel very honest to Lucy at all, and she could only look depressed from wondering if the book had tricked her with that Darkness Magic. It felt so powerful, yet had such a bad side to it. Lucy was not a bad person, nor had she committed any acts of evil. Her new magic certainly seemed different from the previous five types that she had acquired, and that first spell worked in a pretty abnormal way. After all, Lucy had never thought that she could cause so much destruction in the blink of an eye.

In fact, her first spell had made some people be knocked out by the violet blasts and the purple smoke of toxicity. The sponsors had seen everything that had happened, not knowing that Lucy was the main cause of it, but they couldn't just cancel the Grand Magic Games before they had even started. After all, the organization holding this event would know that many of the spectators would be mad to find out that their tickets would not come with any refunds of jewels if the tournament had to be cancelled.

However, Lucy also knew that the sponsors would not disappoint the remaining guilds that were seeking to be the best in Fiore. This tournament had to go on from its normal format, regardless of any interruptions or drama that might be caused, and Lucy hoped that she would be okay. After all, last year had been pretty scary for her. She was nearly killed by Minerva Orlando in the Naval Battle, arrested because of everything surrounding the Eclipse Project, and the aftermath of everything had left her pretty shaken up.

She did not want to be scared of this new type of magic that she was now wielding, despite sensing something strange about it, and Lucy had set the purple book down on the table while she drank some of her white mocha frappuccino. The sweet taste and hot temperature of her coffee were strong enough to snap Lucy out of her thoughts, bringing her back to reality, and she blinked her cocoa brown eyes a few times while Sting had been snapping his fingers in front of her face to see if she would still be in a daze.

"Lucy, quit staring out into space like that! I was telling you that there's nothing to worry about, and you just need a little more control with that new type of magic. Maybe each type of magic is like a Celestial Spirit, and you just have to bond with it. If this new type of magic wants to work with you, then try to understand it." Sting told her in a calm tone while smiling a bit, touching her left hand with his left hand, and he also drank some hot chocolate with whip cream in it to get himself hyped up for the tournament.

He also let Lucy know that she was not alone in this, and that they would be taking on this tournament together. He did not want her to be so fearful about this new type, even though he had also been surprised by the effects of the first spell, and Sting let Lucy know that it probably only ended up like that because of her thoughts. After all, he had noticed that the book seemed to give Lucy spells that really fitted her perfectly. It never gave her something that she did not think would be effective, and that was Lucy's strength.

Her spells were different from ordinary ones, being shaped differently to work in unorthodox ways at certain times, and they also had very interesting effects. Her abilities were similar to that of Molding Magic, meaning that Lucy could create anything that she wanted to make, and Sting let her know that she did not have to wait for the nature of one type of magic to come into play. The heart of magic was certainly in the book, but the abilities of the spells coincided with the thoughts from Lucy's heart and mind.

Sting assured her that everything would end up being okay, and Lucy knew that she could trust him. There were never any doubts about anything, especially when it came to Sting's speeches of confidence being able to really get Lucy happy, and she smiled happily while knowing his words were definitely encouraging. If the spells were created by her thoughts, then maybe Dark Optica came from her doubts about the spells having any real power. Maybe the book hated being underestimated, and it tried to calm Lucy's nerves in a very strange way.

The first day of the Grand Magic Games would be starting at 8:30 in the morning, and the current time was 8:10 in the morning. Lucy thanked Sting for his inspiring speech by giving him a soft kiss on the lips, and she ran out of the coffee shop with her white mocha frappuccino in her left hand. Sting also ran after her with the cup of hot chocolate in his hand, happy to have gotten that sweet kiss from his hot girlfriend, and Sting was definitely going to return the favor to her. He had also wanted to see Lucy fight, showing everyone the results of her training with him, and Sting knew that Lucy would not let him down.

**15 minutes later...**

Sting watched his girlfriend quickly check her appearance in the reflection of a glass window nearby, and he smiled while his blue eyes scanned her from head to toe. She wore a light pink shirt with a red miniskirt to match, and her strawberry pink high heels made her look even more appealing. Lucy also had a pink bow in her hair, and she giggled when she turned to face Sting. Her beautiful blonde hair was also tied into a ponytail on the right side of her head, and Lucy knew that she had to look her best while being determined to do her best as well.

"You always look great, no matter what. If you get chosen to battle today, Lector and I will cheer for you like crazy! I can already tell that you're going to win, no matter who your opponent is or what the event is. Just give it everything that you've got, and deliver a grand slam of moves down on the other teams! Keep your attitude high, and there's no way that you'll go down!" The white dragon slayer told her with a smile on his face, before grinning confidently and giving his girlfriend a thumbs-up while winking with his right eye.

"Thank you, Sting! I'm going to compete today for Sabertooth, and I'm going to win for both of us! Sorry if I seemed totally depressed earlier, but now I really want to beat Fairy Tail because it'll make me feel like I'm stronger than my past self! I want to do good for you, Sting, and I won't lose! With you cheering me on, I know that my courage will be there. You're my inspiration, Sting." She responded with strong emotions in her voice while still looking fierce and feeling confidence rising up from inside her.

Sting understood her reasons for wanting to participate today, and he really did like that fierce look of passion and excitement in her violet eyes. He gave her a soft kiss on the lips for good luck, and she blushed a light shade of pink before returning the kiss and feeling Sting lightly wrap his arms around her waist. They certainly were a pretty cute couple, and Lucy always loved how Sting cared about her. He didn't want her to be depressed on the first day of a big competition like this, and she was not going to let her worries get in the way of her determination to make Sabertooth be the best.

Lucy's belief that she could win, combined with her determination to take Sting's advice about making new spells, caused her purple book to emit violet beams of light while it began to glow. She widened her eyes in shock at the sight of this happening, especially since it got the attention of some people who were passing by, and Lucy opened up the book while she ran to the Domus Flau with Sting. She turned to the sixth section of the book where the Darkness Magic was located, seeing the characters of the sixth language, and three new spells had appeared.

She couldn't exactly read everything perfectly while running at a fast pace, just seeing the violet text on the first three pages of Darkness Magic continue to glow, and Lucy wondered what these spells would be like. She could still hear Sting's advice resonating in her mind, letting her know that the book did not control her spells. If she was the book's master, then she controlled it. She smiled a bit, having confidence in her cocoa brown eyes while knowing that she could freely decide what the spells would be, and the blonde girl would not let these three spells go to waste.

However, Lucy did not know that her Darkness Magic was part of a little partnership. Darcy could also give Lucy some spells whenever she really needed them, and the violet-haired spirit did play an important role here. While Lucy could clearly think up the looks for the spells, she somewhat lacked the power to back them up. Darcy's dark nature could supply her spells with that strong power, and this type of magic had a few nice non-spell abilities. Lucy or Darcy could teleport through moonlight, and both girls were also capable of eating moonlight. They could also absorb gravity, too.

They had managed to catch up with the other members of Team Sabertooth, looking totally ready to win today, and Lucy did not plan to lose. She knew that people could volunteer to participate in the events, but the sponsors would choose the pairings for the battles. Would Lucy be chosen to battle today, and what would the event end up being like? She was getting really psyched up for this, ready to do well for Sting, and Lucy would let her feelings shine through to him with her magic. However, would that shine be bright or dark?

As Team Sabertooth kept running towards the arena, Lucy and Sting had unknowingly passed by Lisanna. She looked a bit startled to see them all run past her at such high speeds, but then the blue-eyed girl managed to regain her composure. Both of the Fairy Tail teams were still on their way to the Domus Flau, making the white-haired mage be the first one to arrive, and she smirked a bit while hoping that her plan would go into action. It did involve Natsu, too, and what she had made him do as a deal to win back her trust would be a little bit entertaining for her to watch.

Even though both mages were in the same guild, Lisanna knew that her ex-boyfriend would be on one of the opposing teams facing off against Team Fairy Tail B. She didn't plan to show him any mercy if they had to face off against each other, and his actions as a jerk had certainly caused Natsu to make quite the list of enemies in his own guild. He wanted to fix things with everyone, but he had to be on good terms with Lisanna for any kind of reconciliation. Of course, after all that he had done by using Lisanna like a pawn, it was only fair that she had to make him owe her a great debt for all the pain that he caused to her and Lucy.

* * *

**40 minutes later…**

The time had finally arrived for the inauguration of the Grand Magic Games in the year X792, and there were balloons of many colors being released into the air. Spectators filled the many rows of seats in the Domus Flau, and the guild masters were in the stadium's booths along with non-competing members of their respective guilds. The announcer and judges were in a booth near the king's booth, and Chapati Lola looked excited about the Grand Magic Games while he turned on his microphone and tested it to make sure that it was working.

"Welcome to the Grand Magic Games of X792, everyone! Once again, we're all here to decide the best guild in Fiore! Fairy Tail's win last year was exciting to see, but can they win again and keep their success going? Will someone else rise to the top? Let's get ready to see the eight competing teams!" Chapati announced excitedly, causing the spectators in the arena to cheer and roar. Even he looked thrilled for this annual tournament to be transpiring once again, since last year was really dramatic.

"I hope that everyone competes fairly this year. We don't want to have to disqualify anyone and ban them for three years like we had to do with Team Raven Tail last year." Yajima commented sternly, hoping no one would be foolish enough to cheat. In fact, this year, the Domus Flau had cameras on all of its statues to monitor and zoom in on every move of the competitors and their teammates. There was no way that anybody would be canceling out someone else's magic to help another team win, since the security was also composed of mages who could pinpoint the location of magic as soon as it was activated in any way.

"I certainly hope Blue Pegasus will be competing again. After all, Ichiya's vial of Pecha Berry Perfume had canceled out the toxic smoke in Crocus that had been creeping towards us. His vial of Pain Relieving Perfume also assisted many people in the city, so I'd hate to see our efforts go to waste." Jenny Realight said with a happy smile on her face, as she waved to the crowd.

Then, the teams were getting ready to be announced. They would be announced in ascending order from the last full team that reached the Domus Flau to the first complete team who managed to get here. Since there were no preliminaries, due to the actions of Lucy's Dark Optica spell that had left only eight teams able to compete, the people who had managed to survive that attack would be able to participate in the tournament. Some people even thought that yesterday's sudden catastrophe actually was the preliminary round, too.

The first group to be announced was Team Quatro Cerberus, who had gotten 8th place this time around. Their team consisted of Bacchus, Rocker, Nobarly, Yaeger, and Semmes. Hopefully, for their sake, they wouldn't have to be renamed Team Quatro Puppy like last year.

Next, was Team Mermaid Heel. They came in 7th place, and the mages on the team were Kagura, Milliana, Beth, Risley, and Arania. Could they achieve fourth place at the end like they did last year?

After them, a new team came out of the dark hallway and the members of this team would be surprising to see. They were Team Sweet Melancholy, a group from a dark guild that had recently been approved as a legal light guild by the Magic Council, but the members on the team had actually come from the shadows that had created by a certain woman with silvery-blue hair. Karen had sent the real people into the shadows, and she had made their shadowy darker selves arise to assist her with the exciting task of seeing Lucy Heartfilia in action. (The members of Sweet Melancholy shall be introduced later on in the competition, just so you know.)

Following them, was Team Blue Pegasus. Jenny immediately stood up to applaud her teammates for getting 5th place, and she smiled at Hibiki, Ren, Eve, Ichiya, and Nichiya. Many people were also cheering for Team Blue Pegasus because of the fact that Ichiya released his Pain Relieving Perfume into the air to help save many people, including some kids that were now cheering from the stands for Blue Pegasus. Could Hibiki's calculations be able to work this year, or would his data need to be updated?

Afterwards, Team Lamia Scale came out on to the battlefield of the Domus Flau. Ooba Babasaama scolded them for getting 4th place again, but then she saw the reason why when Chelia Blendy kept on clumsily tripping over her own feet.

Then, Team Fairy Tail A arrived in the Domus Flau. Erza, Natsu, Laxus, Gajeel, Gray, and Juvia heard the tremendous roars of the crowd since Fairy Tail had won last year. They had confident smiles on their faces that told everyone that they planned to win again this year, and Natsu posed triumphantly for the crowd. He roared up at the crowd that Fairy Tail could beat the pants off of anyone, causing them to positively cheer his name as a response, and the fire dragon slayer was secretly hoping that Lisanna's team was running late.

However, he just had to tempt fate for his high hopes to come crashing down. Surprisingly, the next team to arrive was Team Fairy Tail B. It consisted of Lisanna, Mirajane, Elfman, Cana, and Jellal. The crowd cheered for them as well, since they also represented Fairy Tail. Natsu immediately gulped with embarrassment, as he saw Lisanna have a scheming look in her blue eyes while using her left eye to wink at him as a way of reminding him of how he owed her for his deplorable actions, and he looked nervous while knowing his team would regret what he was going to do.

With the 2nd place team announced, only one team remained unknown. Natsu laughed while having an arrogant look on his face, thinking that Lucy had been the one who slowed Sabertooth down, and he thought that they definitely would not be in the tournament. He also wanted to laugh at the assumption of Sting, his greatest rival, having to watch the Grand Magic Games from the spectator seats. Natsu literally began to laugh about the fact that Sabertooth had practically forfeited to Fairy Tail last year, but he had tempted fate once again.

Finally, it was Team Sabertooth's time to step out on to the field. The six members were walking down the dark hallway towards the bright light that led to the battlefield where everyone else was waiting to see the team that had been the first to arrive at the Domus Flau. Yukino was still going to walk out there with her teammates, despite being a reserve member for the team, and she also calmly smiled while looking at Lucy's purple spell book. That was the color of royalty, victory, and that is what Sabertooth would possibly be able to achieve.

Sting and Lucy were holding hands and smiling, as they arrived on the field with their teammates to see all the other teams they were competing against during the Grand Magic Games. The crowd cheered for Team Sabertooth, and some of the spectators even recognized Lucy from seeing her name in the newspaper because of all the jobs that she had been completing in Fiore and in faraway lands. Even Suna Shiro from the Desert Resort was in the stands of the Domus Flau, and she simply smirked at the sight of the blonde girl who had taken down an elite Earth Dragon Slayer such as herself.

Lucy blushed a light shade of pink and seemed a little bit nervous from all of her opponents staring at her, especially since people like Kagura Mikazuchi and Lyon Vastia looked eager to fight her since they had obviously heard the stories of her enormous power. Her presence also made Karen Melancholia have a soft smile on her face, delighted that Lucy had made it into the real competition, and she also had her silvery-blue eyes fixated on the purple spell book. Karen had known that the purple sky, violet blasts, and toxic smoke were from Lucy's first spell, and she was going to monitor the progress of the blonde maiden.

Natsu shouted at me with an annoyed facial expression, pointing his left index finger straight at me, "There you are, Lucy! Don't think that I forgot for even a second how you beat me to a pulp and sent me crashing through a wall with your abnormal Earth Magic! You also made me look bad against Fire Magic, my own specialty, and I'm going to rough you up pretty good for that! Just because you beat me once, don't let it get to your head! I'm gonna bring the dinner to the table, and crush you with a side helping of flames!"

Sting quickly shielded Lucy in an attempt to threaten Natsu to not mess with her, but she motioned for him to step aside before folding her arms and closing her eyes while countering Natsu's statement with a sharp tongue and a harsh look, "Wow, what a loudmouth. You're so confident that you can defeat me, yet you yourself stated that my Earth Magic kicked your butt. I really dislike hypocrites, you know, but you're right about one thing. You did give me a pretty hard time over the fact that my skills with fire burn hotter than yours, using your fire just to power up mine, and the fact that all of your spells got torn through is just another perfect example of how strong you aren't."

At that moment, most of the other mages let out a big "Ooooh!" in unison at her words towards Natsu. Even the crowd and the judges were impressed by such an image-shattering comeback like that, and Lucy looked pretty happy to receive high-fives from Cana and Lisanna for her remarks. Orga, Rufus, and Sting also high-fived her for what she had said. Natsu looked totally shocked by this, dropping his jaw at the fact that Lucy told him off with ease, and the fire dragon slayer gulped anxiously when Lisanna deviously smirked at him to let him know that he would be used like how he had used her. Taking a taste of his own medicine was perfect for earning Lisanna's trust again, right?

Gajeel, Laxus, and even Gray continued to laugh. Of course, Gray had always enjoyed seeing Natsu get told by anybody. The ice mage was also proud of Lucy for being able to stand up for herself like that, and Gray was personally rooting for her to win if she ever got matched up against Natsu in this five-day tournament. He knew that she was really strong with the power of that mysterious book, and Gray did not know that the book was also benefiting the power of Lucy's Celestial Spirits as well.

* * *

**5 minutes later...**

After all the laughter ceased, a stone tablet rose up from the ground and it had the program for the five days of the Grand Magic Games on it. The events would happen before the battles on each day, except the fifth day where the event was the survival tournament that involved battles. Everyone wondered what the first event would end up being like, since they would never know what the event was until the judges had announced it, and some of the events could actually end up being pretty illogical.

To remind all the competitors that the Grand Magic Games were not just an assortment of mental and physical challenges, the first event was known as "Appealing Ace." For events, the teams could select a member to participate instead of the sponsors deciding. Everybody wanted to have those ten points right off the bat, most likely to have a sense of security for when the battles would come around, but they didn't even know what the event was about. Could this event be good or bad for Team Sabertooth?

Team Quatro Cerebus had selected Yaeger, Beth had volunteered for Mermaid Heel, Eve Team stepped forward for Blue Pegasus, Lyon decided to do this for Lamia Scale, prompting Gray Fullbuster from Team Fairy Tail A to also step forward. A girl named Kira Kurono was told by Karen to volunteer for Team Sweet Melancholy, and she had long brown hair that reached down to her waist. Her eyes were green, and she wore a simple pink T-shirt with some green shorts. While Lucy volunteered for Team Sabertooth, wanting to impress Sting, she was happy to see Lisanna give her a friendly smile.

However, right after giving Lucy that smile, Lisanna shot a devious smirk at Natsu. She had a manipulative look in her blue eyes, almost like she was ordering Natsu to try and do something, but he just looked pretty nervous while knowing that Gray had volunteered to do this challenge for his team. He was hoping that Lisanna would not have any kind of issue with any of the other members of Fairy Tail A, and Natsu seemed really regretful of everything that he had done to Lisanna. She was really making him pay the price for what he done, but what was he exactly doing to hold up their end of the deal?

As Natsu did not exactly have the fire right now for any fierce action, Lucy looked pretty psyched up about winning this event for Team Sabertooth. It was true that she hadn't tested out the other three spells of Darkness Magic yet, but the unknown had pulled through for her in nearly every situation. This event may have had twists to it, but her magic also had twists to it as well. Lucy was able to work with her magic every time, and adapting to the event would not be as difficult as it seemed to be.

In an instant, Mato commanded the field to magically open up and a large stage appeared in the middle of the sandy battlefield. The stage had beautiful red curtains that rose up to reveal that there was absolutely nothing or no one on it, and the spotlights turned on to shine on the center of the wooden floor. Gray hoped that they wouldn't have to perform in a dance-off or something like that, since dancing was not exactly his best skill. There were mic stands or microphones, so singing also would not be a part of this event.

"For those of you who don't know how to play this game, I'll explain the rules! Myself, Yajima-san, and the beautiful Jenny Realight from Team Blue Pegasus will be the judges in this event! Each competitor must go up on that stage and make their magic look appealing to the audience, but only three moves per mage are allowed. You will get a score for your performance, and the person who gets a perfect 10 gets ten points! Last place gets zero points, by the way. Now, let the event commence!" Chapati announced while looking thrilled for what was to come.

Looking pretty confident about this, Kira Kurono went up on the stage first. She smiled happily while making a grey orb emerge from her right hand, and it floated in midair for a few moments. Then, she threw it into the air for the grey orb to explode with an electric blast. Thin beams of light came down upon the stage, and the judges looked amazed to see Kira dance through them with flexibility and dexterity. The judges found her act to be okay, and they gave her a 4 out of 10 for her team to earn four points.

The next person to go up on the stage was Lyon Vastia from Team Lamia Scale. He used his Ice-Make Magic to create three falcons out of ice, and they flew through the air for a few moments. When they descended into the ground, the ice falcons cracked into pieces. The judges gave Lyon a 3 out of 10, giving his team three points, and they got fifth place in the event. Gray grinned with confidence, knowing that he could do much better, and he narrowed his dark blue eyes while making various weapons out of ice. He threw them all into the air, watching them hit each other, and blue glitter fell down on to the stage as a result of all the ice breaking apart. The judges seemed impressed, and Gray received an eight out of ten to earn eight points for his team.

Having a creative yet simple idea, Eve Tearm from Team Blue Pegasus used his Snow Magic to easily create a snowman. While Jenny found it to be delightful, Chapati wasn't all that thrilled by something that he could see when Christmas came around. Eve received a 2 out of 10, earning two points for Blue Pegasus, and they were currently in sixth place. Beth Vanderwood from Team Mermaid Heel used her Carrot Magic to obviously produce carrots, and simply eating one of them caused Chapati to look disinterested. He only gave her a one out of ten, giving Mermaid Heel one point.

Yaeger from Team Quatro Cerberus used his Plant Magic to summon a flytrap out of the ground, but it had done nothing since there wasn't anything for it to eat. He received a zero from the judges, resulting in his team getting zero points. Cana from Team Fairy Tail B threw her Whirlpool Card down on the ground, making a large whirlpool of water appear beneath her feet, and she quickly used a Surfboard Card to clearly make an orange surfboard be beneath her feet. She began to do some surfboarding tricks while circling around in the whirlpool, and the judges were impressed enough to give her a 6 out of 10.

After Cana had dispelled the effects of her cards and left the stage, Lucy had motivation in her cocoa brown eyes from realizing that she was the only competitor left. Luckily for her, ten was the only remaining score for whatever she did. It would easy to do something simple, still getting the highest amount of points, but that's not what Lucy was going to do. She wanted to impress Sting, show him how powerful she could be with her new spells, and Lucy was going to show Natsu that she was far from a weakling.

She shouted with strong emotions after running up on to the stage with a fierce look on her face, opening her purple spell book once again, "I call upon thee, the second spell, Dark Moonlight!"

This spell caused the clear blue sky to turn black like the nighttime, having the white moon replace the yellow sun, and a violet aura surrounded Lucy's body. She also lost consciousness for a few moments, not knowing that her eyes had turned amethyst purple to represent the appearance of Darcy, and Lucy smirked deviously while a purple sphere of Darkness Magic formed in her right hand. She surprisingly shoved it in her mouth, swallowing it whole, and then Lucy began to levitate from the effects of Dark Moonlight.

As a side effect, she was able to make some gravity come down upon the stage and cause massive purple blasts of energy to occur. She had great control over the gravity, manipulating it to strike certain areas, and that led right into her next move. It was known as Dark Crescent, and this spell made Lucy have three purple crescent-moon shaped projectiles in each hand. She threw them all down on the ground, causing more violet blasts of energy to transpire, and the side effect of this spell caused Lucy to send down gravity to the ground with a single exhale of air.

The other competitors could feel the effects of the spell weighing down on them, making them lie flat on the ground with enormous amounts of pressure on them, but that was nothing compared to what Lucy's fourth spell was able to do. It was known as Dark Fireworks, and this move caused the violet aura surrounding Lucy's body to shoot up into the air. It came down upon the sandy battlefield in the form of falling violet torpedoes, creating a copious amount of violet explosions that made the purple smoke appear, but it wasn't toxic this time.

Since her three moves were done, Lucy closed the purple spell book to cancel the Dark Fireworks attack. The sky turned back to being a beautiful shade of blue with the sun shining high in the air, and the blonde mage's amethyst purple eyes returned to their cocoa brown color while gravity made her float down on to the sandy battlefield. Everyone looked pretty impressed by what Lucy had just done, even though she curiously looked around to see what she had really done, and she gasped in shock at the sight of her other competitors being hurt pretty badly. The Dark Fireworks spell had struck them, since that was from Darcy's will and not Lucy's, you know.

"Wow, that was really amazing! Sabertooth is pretty strong, now that Lucy Heartfilia is with them! Her team receives 10 points, and that power definitely gives her a perfect score of 10! Could the immense gravity portend Sabertooth's comeback from last year? Let's see, folks!" Chapati announced with an excited facial expression, shocked to see that Lucy had so much power.

The blonde mage was very surprised to find out that those three spells had been used in the way that she wanted them to be shaped with their correct effects included, but she hadn't imagined that they would have so much power behind them. Lucy jumped up into Sabertooth's booth where all of her friends were waiting for her, and Sting happily hugged her for helping the Sabertooth guild earn their first victory. She was glad to have helped her team win, but all of that power in her moves just felt so different to her.

* * *

**10 minutes later…**

When the competitors from the event went up to the booths where their teams were waiting, everyone could only talk about Lucy's fierce determination to win since she had nearly destroyed the other competitors and obliterated the stage with her spells of Darkness Magic. Who would be against her in the battle part, if she were chosen to battle today? The battles had time limits of 30 minutes, and the winner would get 10 points while the loser would receive zero. A draw would result in five points for both teams, to keep things fair.

Speaking of battles, the battle part had begun with Gajeel Redfox from Team Fairy Tail A facing off against Nobarly from Team Quatro Cerberus. Gajeel had slammed him into the wall with a simple Iron Dragon's Roar, knocking him out and quickly ending the match. Team Fairy Tail A received 10 points for winning while maintaining second place, but Team Quatro Cerberus was still down in eighth place with zero points. They certainly were pathetic.

The second battle pitted Rufus Lohr from Team Sabertooth against Beth Vanderwood from Team Mermaid Heel. The young country girl tried attacking him with her Carrot Missiles, but Rufus used his Memory-Make Magic to make a clone of himself for Beth to attack. He then smirked a bit while proceeding to end the match with a combination of Lucy's skills with his abilities. He used a new move called Ignited Sparks, and it made several red fireballs come down from the sky to attack Beth. She took massive damage, and was knocked out. Rufus won the match, thus earning ten more points for his guild.

The next match had Jura Neekis from Lamia Scale up against Eve Tearm from Team Blue Pegasus. The blond young man attempted to use White Fang to strike Jura, only to have the Wizard Saint easily defeat him by using Iron Rock Fist to slam him against a wall with tremendous force. Eve fell to the ground, and Jura was declared the winner of the match. Team Lamia Scale gained ten more points, but Team Blue Pegasus got nothing from the match. Jenny was noticeably upset, but Jura was quite a strong opponent.

The final match of the day put Mirajane Strauss from Team Fairy Tail B up against Kira Kurono from Team Sweet Melancholy. Mirajane had transformed into her normal Satan Soul form to start things off, and she then proceeded to use Soul Extinction to end this in one shot. However, Kira disappearing in a flash of lightning to evade the attack. Mirajane kept attacking while Kira kept evading, and the match eventually in Kira surprisingly forfeiting to Mira. She wasn't exactly here to fight for Karen, but more to observe Lucy.

* * *

With the first day complete, Team Sabertooth decided to go to a restaurant and celebrate. Sting had already ran off before Lucy could catch up with him, and she still did not know what had happened with her Darkness Magic. It seemed like she had been taken over by a different presence, the air feeling much colder around her while she was casting the spells, and Lucy looked a little bit scared when she had remembered how the other competitors were wounded by her spells. She hadn't intended to do something like that, but why had she done it?

Lucy quickly looked inside the purple book to find that the other four spells had been written, most likely resulting from Darcy's darkness, and she could see the effects of every spell in her mind. The fifth spell of Darkness Magic could be used to alter a target's gravity, making it lighter for the ability to float up high in the air, but then they would come down and cause a violet blast of energy to transpire. This spell was known as Darkness Scale, by the way. It sure seemed like a heavy ability to have around, right?

The sixth spell could give Lucy the ability to use moonlight to restore her magical power, and it could also restore her physical strength. A violet aura would surround her body, increasing her powers to new heights, but the aura only lasted for thirty seconds. The drawback of this spell known as Nightly Heal was that she couldn't use any other ones while it was in effect. It did give her some durability, though, meaning it was more to be used as a defensive move. Quite interesting of Darcy to have that, right?

The seventh spell could give Lucy or Darcy the ability to make a purple drill of Darkness Magic surround their left hand, and it was a simple close-range move that could drill through an opponent's body. The side effect of this spell, however, would cause opponents to feel tired and want to sleep. That played nicely into the final spell that was simply known as Nightmare Eater, and it could be used only on sleeping foes to cause massive damage to them while Darcy or Lucy could refill their magical power by absorbing dreams. The side effect of this spell would make the opponent awake, however.

Suddenly, Lucy had her blonde hair covering her cocoa brown eyes. The violet text of these final four spells began to glow from within her purple book, and a sinister grin formed on her face. She began to let out a sweet little giggle about something, blushing a light shade of pink at the thought of it, and she could feel the gravity in her hands. It was so immense like the power she was wielding, and purple was such a cute color. However, the spell book had a really big drawback about using Darkness Magic.

Karen asked the blonde female in a calm tone while emerging from her shadow, pulling her aside for a moment, "Hello, Lucy. Are you enjoying the Darkness Magic that I gave you? Do you feel the badness flowing through you yet?"

Lucy replied in a dark tone, her eyes turning amethyst purple while she began to smirk in a vicious manner, "Don't refer to me by that name, Karen. You know I can unlock my own seal, you fool. I could've used my own set, but I just used these in Lucy's mind to fight against Natsu. After all, my powers mostly work with the fear of the mind. I am Darcy Homika, wielder of Darkness Magic, and you're just lucky that the book has its restraints. Otherwise, I wouldn't work with you or have been in the book that had imprisoned me. Your master was quite a woman, you know. I still remember how she ended up losing to-"

"Quiet. That's about to change, you deceptive demon. My master is alive within that book, and I'll be so happy when she comes out. Oh, sweet and holy light. You shine brightly, but not as much as the darkness that is secretly in the heart of this young blonde maiden." Karen said aloud in a very pleased manner, before hugging Darcy tightly and smiling like her plan was going along smoothly.

Darcy shouted loudly, feeling a bit uncomfortable from the hug before giving consciousness back to Lucy and pushing Karen into the shadow of a little girl who was walking by, "Don't ever hug me again. It makes me feel creeped out, even though I strike fear into the hearts of children. Besides, I only care about this plan to get my part in it."

* * *

**How was the 18th chapter? Did you like it? The Grand Magic Games have finally begun, and Sabertooth is off to a good start. Sorry about rushing the breaking of the sixth seal for the Darkness Magic, but you'll see why I did that in the next chapter. There will also be more StiCy, along with more NaLi. Will Sting's conflict with Natsu heat up? What will Lisanna make Natsu do in their deal? Will there be technicalities? Standby for the update!**


	19. Chapter 19

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does. This story was made for fun, and not for cash. (How unfortunate.)**

* * *

**Chapter 19: Darcy, Part 3 (The last part of the arc)**

* * *

Lucy woke up in her room that she shared with Yukino at the inn, and she had been trying to feel better about the new Darkness Magic that she could use. She felt the sunlight's warmth come down on her face, prompting her to smile as it reminded her of the day she had promised herself that she would become a stronger person. Today was the 2nd day of the Grand Magic Games, and Lucy looked determined to win again like she had done yesterday. Not only for her sake, but to show Sting that they hadn't trained so hard for nothing.

She wanted to make him feel pleased with her, liking her new talents, and Lucy loved to hear Sting be proud of her. He had even congratulated her last night for winning the first event of the Grand Magic Games, and Lucy had giggled a bit while blushing when he had also given her a gentle kiss on the cheek. She loved to know that Sting was supporting her throughout this tournament, and he would also help her out with the mysteries of her strange book of spells. Lucy did need his help with the Darkness Magic, after all.

Truth be told, she actually felt a bit nervous about unleashing that type of magic again because of how much control it had lacked. The spells certainly were pretty powerful like all the other moves in the other five types of magic, but at least they were controlled enough to not hurt people. She still could not fathom how the spells had managed to hurt her friends like Gray and Cana, especially when the event was about appealing with spells. She wasn't trying to assassinate anyone, so what had happened?

That scene on the first day just reminded her about what had happened on the day of the preliminary event that was supposed to transpire, but it had been canceled because of Lucy's Dark Optica spell taking out so many teams. She had to wonder what was going on with these spells, why they were unleashing such dangerous effects, and Lucy had used her spells for good purposes. She sighed sadly while wondering what the book was trying to tell her, and Lucy looked a bit depressed as she wondered if this type of magic would ever listen to her.

It had seemed so cold when she had used it, almost like she could a different presence within this magic, and Lucy did not know what it had meant. Her spells of Darkness Magic had always made her lose consciousness, her eyes turning purple to show that Darcy would be taking control whenever the spells were used by Lucy, and the blonde mage really began to question herself about using these spells. Was this the type of magic that she should really avoid, or was it just like a messenger to her that was foreshadowing something more?

There wasn't anyone who was after the book, so it could not be warning her to get stronger for something. Besides, no one else other than Lucy could even read the strange spell book. It had been sealed for a pretty long while after its original owner had become deceased, and this book had curses on it for protection. The curses were also for caution as well, and whoever had created the book wanted it to be in the hands of someone with a soul that was pure like the sound of a beautiful silver bell.

That person also needed a kind heart of gold as well, a quality that Lucy definitely had, and she was still a bit shocked at the fact that she could read all of the olden languages in the spell book. She had not even seen them before, and yet reading the characters was like seeing words in simple Japanese kanji. Did the book have some kind of translating abilities on it for its wielder, or was there something else behind that mystery? Lucy had also wondered why the book had chosen her, and not someone like Levy, but trying to make logical theories out of something illogical would probably make her brain blow a fuse.

She slowly got out of bed to see that the bathroom light was on with the sliding door closed, and Yukino hummed happily while taking a shower. Lucy thought that it would be rude to intrude on her like that to just greet her, and the blonde mage had a soft smile on her face while knowing that she could wait. She was still happy to be in the Grand Magic Games with Yukino and the rest of her new crew, prompting Lucy to happily dance around for a few seconds. She hoped that her new guild would win this thing, and she would definitely try to be a good contributor.

As she smiled with happiness in her brown eyes, going over to the window to open it for some fresh air, Sting exclaimed in a confident manner while entering the room with all of his other teammates, "Good morning, Lucy! I hope you're totally psyched up about today, especially since it's the second day of the Grand Magic Games! We won't have a repeat of last year where we got absolutely no points at all, and I plan to dedicate my new moves to you! I hope you'll like my strategies today, my sweet cupcake."

Lucy replied happily while running over to Sting to give him a hug of delight, happiness twinkling in her cocoa brown eyes, "Sting, you are the sweetest guy that I have ever met! You are so awesome, and I will definitely be rooting for you. I don't know what the event will be this year, but I know that either you or me can do well in it if we believe in ourselves and go forth with unyielding determination. After all, that's what a winning team is all about."

While Lucy got the purple spell book out of the bottom drawer of the nearby brown dresser, she blushed a bit from hearing her stomach growl loudly once again. If her feelings were talking to Sting, then her stomach could do it as well. He chuckled a bit from hearing her belly bark, but Sting knew that it was natural for his girlfriend to now have an appetite. She had absorbed Earth Dragon Slayer Magic in the Desert Resort, you know, and that probably made Lucy have the appetite of a dragon slayer as well.

She had also made a green tornado of wind surround only her body while the wind helped her changed clothes, censoring her body for a few moments, and the tornado quickly vanished to reveal Lucy's new outfit. She wore a simple orange T-shirt with a purple miniskirt, and her flat shoes were blue. She always was pretty fashionable, and Sting smiled at her choice of colors. As her stomach growled once more for food, Lucy ran out of the room with everyone else while knowing that Yukino would catch up with them.

* * *

**Meanwhile...**

Lisanna had asked Natsu to meet with her at a donut shop in Crocus, and let's just say that she wasn't exactly pleased about him not participating yesterday. She wasn't really angry about Lucy getting ten points for Team Sabertooth in the appealing event, but she was miffed that Gray was in the event. She had wanted Natsu to be up on that stage before it had gotten destroyed, and he was actually creative at showing off his Fire Dragon Slayer Magic. However, showing off his arrogant side with his moves is not what Lisanna wanted at all.

She was also displeased with the fact that Gray had earned a higher score than Cana, getting eight points instead of the six that she had received, and Natsu could not control what Gray had done. It was not his fault that Gray's biggest ice-making rival named Lyon Vastia had volunteered to participate for Team Lamia Scale yesterday, and the fire dragon slayer had no control over their rivalry. Even so, he still owed Lisanna for using her to make Lucy jealous. He had also chosen his pride over their love, making her really hate him.

Their deal had actually involved quite a humiliating thing for Natsu. He really hated the fact that he had to agree to a deal like this, but he also had to gain Lisanna's trust back to really get his name cleared in Fairy Tail. He knew that this deal would make him be in huge trouble with people like Erza and Laxus, but Lisanna had also made a special rule about this deal. He could not snitch on her about it to anyone, including people on the other teams. She wanted this side deal to be kept secret, since it benefited her and the rest of Team Fairy Tail B.

Lisanna even thought that Lucy would get a laugh out of this deal, and Natsu had not been agreeing to it at all. The first day may have been the start, but Lisanna wanted that to be the start of where Natsu would show her that he had changed into a much better guy. Now he seemed like the shady type of snake who would make other people do his dirty work for him, since he hadn't participated yesterday, and that was another thing that Lisanna could have as blackmail in their little side deal.

She was not becoming evil at all, but Lisanna wanted Natsu to know that giving pain to someone did not come for free. Acting rude to someone and kicking her out of the team, only to make her jealous and torture her in the most emotional ways, was pretty sick. Natsu should not have been so arrogant to stoop that low to brag about his new relationship to Lucy, and he was lucky that his bullying had not made her become weak or submissive to him. Otherwise, she would have taken the easy way out.

He had been having his head down while they sat across from each other at the table, not even eating anything because they already had breakfast, and Natsu knew that he had to make things right with his current ex-girlfriend. Keeping this deal from his team was like asking Erza to beat the crud out of him, and he didn't exactly feel too pleased about Lisanna manipulating him like this. Well, he had to get what he deserved for using her as a means to make Lucy envious. Karma sure hated him, didn't it?

"Lisanna, come on. This is really unfair, and Erza would kill me for it. You know how scary she can be. I didn't participate on the first day because I did not want to give it away so fast. Please forgive me for that. I swear that I'll do it today, and you'll get to see me show how I was wrong to use you like that. I'm sorry about hurting you, but at least give me some of your trust." Natsu whined while looking disappointed at the situation that he had gotten himself into by being a total jerk towards Lucy and Lisanna.

The white-haired mage responded sternly, narrowing her blue eyes at Natsu, "You haven't shown me that you even deserve my trust, Natsu, and you were just using me like a tool to make Lucy jealous. You know, if we had become friends, you'd just be asking me if she said anything about you. Lucy does not care about you anymore, and I am doing this because you want my trust back. If you want to earn someone's trust, then you must hold up the end of every deal. Do that with this one, or I'll reveal a lot about you."

Natsu looked at her in a shocked way, not believing what he was hearing, and the fire dragon slayer looked embarrassed at the thought of Lisanna revealing what they had done in their relationship. She'd tell everyone in the Domus Flau, and those people would let the entire world know what had gone on when the nights were cold. He did not want every other girl in Fiore to think that he was kind of wild guy in bed, and Natsu knew that Lisanna was smart enough to have kept a Videotape Lacrima Crystal around.

He had hoped that fate would be on his side today, probably making Lisanna miss the Grand Magic Games or something, and Natsu looked at the clock on the wall. The current time was 9:04 in the morning, and the second day of the Grand Magic Games would begin at 9:20 in the morning. Seeing that he had to get moving, since Erza would scold him greatly if he was late, Natsu quickly left the donut shop to head to the arena. He wanted to get away from Lisanna and her deceptive ways, which was ironic since he had once deceived her into thinking that they had a real love.

* * *

**10 minutes later, at the Domus Flau…**

The members of Team Sabertooth had made it to the Domus Flau in time, not wanting to miss any part of the action, and Yukino had finished her shower fast enough to join up with her teammates. She did not want to miss out on today, either, especially since the second day was the day where she had fought Kagura Mikazuchi last year and lost while all of her Celestial Spirits were defeated. Even the great Serpent Bearer known as Ophiuchus was defeated by a single slash of a sheathed sword, and Yukino sadly looked down while remembering how overconfident she had been.

She wasn't the only one who was somewhat down, you know. Lucy still looked a tad bit nervous about the event and battle today, wondering if her Darkness Magic would be as destructive as it was yesterday, but Lucy did not even realize that it would probably end up being her possibly best trump card for when major enemies came around. She hoped that it would listen to her commands, since she had actually wanted yesterday's spells to make purple glitter form the shape of a large heart instead of all those explosions.

Lucy opened the purple spell book to find that the last four spells of Darkness Magic had been written, and she widened her cocoa brown eyes in pure shock. She had no knowledge of ever doing anything to make the book see her personal growth with this type of magic, so why had it given her these four new spells to use? Lucy somehow found them to be useful in their own ways, sensing this eerie feeling from them, and the magic also seemed so strong. However, the names of the spells did not sound explosive at all.

Chapati exclaimed while looking excited about the upcoming action today, "Welcome to the second day of the Grand Magic Games, everybody! Yesterday, Sabertooth showed us how dark and enchanting they can be when it comes to appealing! They are currently in the lead with 20 points, but the Fairy Tail teams are not too far behind with their scores of 18 points and 16 points! Let's see how the fierce rivalry between these two guilds will turn out, everybody!"

"Sabertooth was certainly impressive on the first day, I'll say that." Yajima commented in a calm tone while folding his arms.

"Hello, people! My name's Jason from Sorcerer Magazine, and I'm the guest judge for the second day! I am definitely going to get the DVD for this year's Grand Magic Games, because Lucy Heartfilia's dark appeal was just so interesting and cool! It was like seeing something from some kind of weird dream, yet it was just so cool!"

The crowd began to cheer wildly, knowing that today's event and battles would probably be exciting and thrilling to watch. All of the teams were in their respective booths, and Karen looked over at the area where Lucy was located. The woman with silvery-blue hair had her eyes fixated on the young blonde maiden, interested in seeing how those last four spells of Darkness Magic would work, and Karen knew that the sixth seal had already been broken. She just wanted to see the power that Lucy would display, even if they had to face each other.

Chapati announced that today's event would be known as "Pillar Battle." According to his description of the event, a large pillar of earth would be created from magical power and the contestants would be elevated to its highest heights. On the large top of the pillar, they would have to battle each other with all kinds of spells being allowed. Anyone who fell off the pillar or got knocked out would receive a certain number of points, and this event had some similarities to the Naval Battle from last year.

Sting told his team with a confident look on his face, smirking mostly at Lucy, "This is totally my area of expertise, guys! I'm gonna make up for what I did last year in the Chariot event, trust me! I'm going to use Holy Ray to make those guys see the light and hit the ground, and there's no way that I'll lose!"

Before anyone could even debate with him about it, Sting jumped down on the sandy battlefield and waited to see whom his opponents would be. Even though he had no clue who was going to be selected, Sting told himself to give it 120% since he was doing it for Lucy. After all, she had done the previous event to impress him. Sting had enjoyed her explosive and gravitational tricks, even though neither of the mages had any clue that Darcy was the one doing it to simply break the seal on her magic.

"There's Sting, guys! He's a smug jerk, and I'm gonna make him pay for letting his stupid girlfriend berate me the way she did in front of an entire audience yesterday! When I burn that guy to a crisp, let's hear what Lucy will say about that! I don't care about what she's going to think, especially since I'll be going after her next! She won't stop me from winning another fight, and I'll win against Sting!" Natsu shouted with an extremely angry look on his face, before jumping from the booth where Team Fairy Tail A was located.

Since this event had combat on a pillar, Mira knew that she wouldn't be breaking any rules by being on the pillar before transforming into one of her Satan Soul Take-Overs to fly above the pillar. She could also destroy it with a move like Soul Extinction, making everyone else fall down to the ground while she would claim the ten points for her team. Of course, even if she got the highest amount of points, it would not matter much to Lisanna. She just hoped that Natsu would follow her orders, or else he'd regret it.

Yuka Suzuki volunteered for Team Lamia Scale since his Wave Magic might be useful, and Eve decided to participate once again since he could use snow to create a slight advantage for himself. Karen from Team Sweet Melancholy had chosen a girl named Hiruda Saikuron to participate in this event, simply to get it over with for the chance of Lucy fighting to soon begin, and Arania Webb had volunteered to be in this event for Team Mermaid Heel. Nobarly from Team Quatro Cerberus had decided to participate as well, completing all the selections.

To satisfy the spectators and teams, Lacrima Vision screens appeared in the air to show them what was happening in full view. This also made it easy for the judges to replay some parts of the event in slow motion to see who fell off the pillar of earth first between two people for certain rankings, should there appear to be ties. This would also allow them to see if anyone was trying to cheat while they were high above the Domus Flau, and grabbing on to the pillar while falling also counted as a means of getting disqualified from the event.

When everyone had stepped forward for the event, Mato commanded the playing field to appear and everyone seemed slightly startled when they heard rumbling sounds coming from underneath them. In an instant, the pillar rose up from the ground and everyone stood on its circular peak. As each person saw clouds not far above him or her, they immediately gulped and looked worried for each other from seeing the long way down to the sandy battlefield of the Domus Flau. Would anyone win, let alone be lucky enough to survive if they lost?

* * *

As the gong was struck to signal for the event to begin, Natsu immediately glared at Sting and proceeded to attack him with Fire Dragon's Roar. However, Hiruda from Team Sweet Melancholy unleashed loud sound waves that diverted the fire dragon slayer's move away from Sting. Instead, it hit Nobarly from Team Quatro Cerberus and he looked shocked while losing his footing. He fell off the pillar, but he luckily managed to hold on to it to avoid the risk of being broken in pieces from falling so far down to the Domus Flau. Team Quatro Cerberus earned no points, sadly.

Sting used his White Dragon's Roar to knock off Arania from Team Mermaid Heel, and the green-haired woman screamed in fear while falling off of the pillar. However, she shot down a lot of webs on to the ground, since they all grew with distance, and she landed on a soft cocoon of her webbing. Arania gained only one point for Team Mermaid Heel, and she got seventh place in the event. With only six competitors left on the pillar of earth now, could things get any more exciting or interesting than this?

While Natsu couldn't get close to Hiruda because of her unleashing her loud sound waves in his path, Yuka Suzuki from Team Lamia Scale had managed to hit Eve Tearm from Team Blue Pegasus with a Wave Seal to make his magic become useless. He smirked a bit while pushing Eve off of the pillar, only to quickly receive his karma from Sting using White Dragon's Roar to send him falling. Team Blue Pegasus earned two more points while Team Lamia Scale had earned three, but who would emerge victorious?

With only half of the competitors remaining, and also upon seeing that Natsu was in trouble, Mirajane quickly went into her normal Satan Soul form to try and help him out. She could see him covering his ears, since Hiruda could scream at such a high frequency, and Natsu's enhanced hearing wasn't making it any better for him. He fell to his knees, but looked surprised to see Mira grab his foe from behind. Hiruda had waist-length black hair, and she wore some blue jeans with some yellow high heels. Her eyes were blue, too.

Mirajane threw Hiruda down to the ground, only to hear her opponent scream loudly and cushion herself with the air from her sound waves. The air went into the ground, making it as soft as a feather cushion, and Hiruda hardly felt a thing when she hit the ground. She hadn't even taken damage, but the pawn of Karen knew that the woman with silvery-blue hair would even the score for Hiruda. Karen smiled down at her pawn for earning at least four points for Team Sweet Melancholy, and her deceptive ways went into action while she evilly smirked.

As Mirajane flew down to the pillar, now watching Sting and Natsu glare at each other before they started to trade blows, Mira's shadow spread out around her. She looked curious about what was happening, and the distending shadow had restricted her abilities to move. Mira suddenly began to sink down into the shadow, and she could not pull herself out of it. She called out to Natsu, wanting his help, but the fire dragon slayer was far too busy trying to hit Sting in the face for having a smug look on his face.

Natsu looked shocked to see his blond rival jump up into the air, and Sting unleashed a new move known as White Dragon's Little Bombs. It was inspired by one of Lucy's attacks, most likely the Fiery Embers spell from her Fire Magic, and it made Sting shoot out seven small spheres of light from his mouth. They all landed near Natsu, some even rolling an inch to get under him, and this spell made many harmless blasts of white light transpire. Natsu was blinded, unable to see a thing, and he couldn't even tell where Sting's Holy Ray attack came from when he hit him with it.

The fire dragon slayer almost fell off the pillar as the light faded away, but he managed to stay on it while looking infuriated at Sting. The white dragon slayer came back down on to the pillar, and he gave Natsu a serious glare like this fight was going to be his last. After all, Sting had heard it from Lucy about how much Natsu had insulted her. He had even treated her like dirt, only to make her feel so depressed, and messing with somebody else's emotions was one of the sickest things that anyone could ever do. Sting would definitely voice his opinion, though.

Natsu shouted while looking fierce, as he ran towards Sting with flames engulfing his fists, "Don't try to pull any sneaky moves with me, you bastard!"

Sting replied with a stern look on his face, as he made balls of white light engulf his fists while dodging all of Natsu's attacks, before delivering a powerful uppercut to his opponent's chin to send him up into the air, "You obviously don't know how to treat people, Salamander! You can't say that I'm a sneaky rat when you pretty much kicked Lucy off the team and wanted to make her sad for your own personal gain! You even called her weak, yet she almost defeated you in Fairy Tail!"

"How the hell do you know about that, you damn moron?!" Natsu asked whilst looking both angry and shocked at the fact that Sting knew about something that hadn't even been spread far from Fairy Tail or Magnolia Town.

"Lucy told me all about it, you stupid idiot. We met by chance in Castelia Town on the day after you dumped her for that silver-haired chick, and Lucy told me how you ignored her and replaced her like she was trash! It's sick to get humor from someone else's misfortune, you know! People like you are definitely scum, Salamander!" Sting explained coldly, keeping his stern facial expression while activating White Drive and preparing to use a new move.

"You honestly act like I should give a crap about someone who was bringing down my team, even though my dispute with Lucy has nothing to do with you! She can continue being the useless loser that she is, and you can get the hell off of this pillar! After you get second place, get a consolation prize from your crappy girlfriend!" Natsu exclaimed, as he grew even angrier and attempted to blast Sting away with his Fire Dragon's Sword Horn.

As Natsu came towards Sting, the blond mage knew that no one would get away with talking bad about Lucy. Narrowing his blue eyes, Sting made all of the light swirl around his left fist. When Natsu got close enough, Sting hit him with that fist and something incredible began to transpire. The white light swirling around Sting's fist turned a large white vortex of swirling light, and it hit Natsu head-on while forcing him out of the flames that engulfed his body. He also took damage from this attack, a large white blast of light occurring on the pillar that was now breaking apart, and Natsu had fallen off the pillar while it was still intact.

The light made many shadows be seen on the battlefield, one shadow bringing Mira back to the Domus Flau, and she was unconscious while having earned six points for Team Fairy Tail B. Natsu earned eight points for Team Fairy Tail A, and Sting had managed to get ten points for Team Sabertooth. The pillar crumbled to the ground, magic being used to levitate and heal any contestants who were falling or had been hurt from that high fall, prompting Chapati and his fellow judges to stop the event right there.

The rubble of the pillar vanished into a large puff of white smoke, and the participants for the event went back to their respective booths where their teammates were waiting for them. People had seen and heard Natsu's conversation from the Lacrima Vision screens, and many male fans of Lucy booed at him while also shouting swear words. Lisanna was really mad at him for not only continuing to not uphold their deal, but the fire dragon slayer had let Mira get captured by a mysterious shadow when she was begging him to help her. What a really dense guy, huh?

"Sting, that was really amazing! You were awesome out there, and I love how you smile onscreen! You're the best battler in the entire world, Sting! You stood up for me against that jerk, and I'm so lucky to have you as a boyfriend! I really love you!" Lucy told him with a happy smile on her face, after Sting jumped back up into Sabertooth's booth and did some victory poses for her.

"I did it all for you, my blonde-haired beauty. After all, I refuse to let anyone speak ill about my girlfriend and get away with a big win. Now that Natsu's riled up with the fact that you and I both managed to kick his butt, I wonder if he'll invade our inn and challenge Sabertooth like he did last year." Sting replied while sharing a hug of victory with his girlfriend, and putting a dreamy look on her face when she blushed pink like cotton candy and seemed like she could swim in his eyes that were blue like the ocean.

Now that the event was over, Lucy had to wonder if she would have to fight today. The new spells of Darkness Magic hadn't been tested out by her, and she didn't know why those spells made her lose consciousness. She also did not want to reveal her other types of magic before the final day or before the fated day when she faced Natsu, so Lucy had only her Darkness Magic and Celestial Spirit Keys to rely on today. Could she win with just those two types of items at her disposal, or would she lose like back in the Naval Battle when Minerva stole her keys?

* * *

**10 more minutes later…**

"All right, everyone! It's time to start the battle portion of the second day, and I have a feeling that these battles will be thrilling to watch!" Chapati exclaimed with an excited facial expression, as the overwhelming thrill made him stand on his chair with the microphone in his hands.

The first battle was between Hiruda Saikuron from Team Sweet Melancholy and Jenny Realight of Team Blue Pegasus. Jenny smiled confidently while she was about to transform into an outfit that could make Hiruda's sound waves resonate and be used against her, but the green-haired woman giggled evilly before she snapped her fingers and sent a large sound wave towards Jenny. It caused an explosion, sending her flying out of the arena, and Hiruda won the match to gain ten more points for Team Sweet Melancholy.

The second battle pitted Kagura Mikazuchi from Team Mermaid Heel against Rocker from Team Quatro Cerberus. When this match had begun, Rocker had used his Drill 'n Rock Magic to make drills of wind form around his legs for high speed. He charged towards Kagura quickly, but she dodged his attack with slight movements before slashing at him with her sword still sheathed. The air wave was powerful enough to send Rocker crashing into a wall, and Kagura won the match. She gained 10 points for Team Mermaid Heel, and those points were desperately needed.

* * *

Chapati announced while looking extremely thrilled for this next battle, as he had the small white piece of paper in his hand with the list of matches on it, "This next battle is a total thrill, everybody! It might get intense, especially since it's between two talented guilds! Lucy Heartfilia from Team Sabertooth versus Yuka Suzuki from Team Lamia Scale! This should be interesting!"

When her name was announced, Lucy immediately gulped while looking a bit nervous at the match up. Was she ready to take on the guy who could seal away an opponent's magic like how he had once done to Nobarly from Team Quatro Cerberus in last year's Grand Magic Games? On top of that, his abilities with Wave Magic could be really dangerous if they were also used offensively. Either way, the blonde mage would be in a pretty tight situation here. However, forfeiting before the match had even started would not be a good option.

Besides, Lucy was going to show Sting that all of their training had not gone to waste. She was going to impress him with her new moves and her golden keys while also letting her ex-boyfriend Natsu see that she was not as weak as he thought she was. Lucy smiled at Sting for a moment, confidence filling up her cocoa brown eyes, and she jumped down from the booth where Team Sabertooth was located to be on the sandy battlefield. Even Erza and Gray were rooting for her to not lose, giving her more encouragement.

As a gong was struck to signify the beginning of the third match, Lucy pulled out Scorpio's Celestial Spirit Key to start things off. She narrowed her brown eyes while summoning him on to the field, noting that she could use the sand like how she had done last year in her match against Flare Corona from Raven Tail, and Lucy also pulled out Virgo's key from the brown pouch that was located in the left pocket of her purple miniskirt. She also planned to use Virgo's Chain Magic to bind Yuka's hands, too.

Scorpio got down on all four limbs like a real scorpion would, and then he smirked a bit while pointing his scorpion-like stinger at Yuka. A large amount of sand was subsequently fired from it in the form of a powerful sand vortex, which moved towards the Lamia Scale mage in a straight line and almost struck him with great blunt power. However, he grinned arrogantly while simply having his Wave Shield completely block the attack. Yuka then proceeded to use his Wave Seal move on Scorpio, the Static version of it, and the Celestial Spirit's magic was sealed away for the duration of the battle.

This frustrated Lucy, having messed up the first part of her plan to win the match, but she also knew that Virgo was still out on the field. If she could just get Yuka's hands chained up, then everything would be fine. She nicely ordered Virgo to shoot out some iron chains from her hands, complete with grappling hooks at the end, and Lucy knew that this match would be over if she could tie up Yuka. However, the blue-haired man simply used his Wave Rush attack to cancel out Virgo's Chain Magic while also hitting her with an attack that created a powerful explosion.

Virgo was nearly unconscious from taking the full brunt of that Wave Rush, and Lucy returned the pink-haired spirit back to her world. This was definitely a tough fight, especially against someone who could seal away magic and also attack with it at the same time. Lucy didn't want to have to rely on the Darkness Magic, knowing how it could be pretty scary, and Yuka would probably just seal away her other types of magic. She didn't know what to do, and Lucy couldn't look up fast enough from her thoughts to see that Yuka hit her with a Wave Rush attack!

It slammed her against the wall, making her cough up some blood from the powerful force of the attack, and Lucy also looked shocked at her opponent's quick skills. He hastily used Wave Shield to trap her inside of an energy wave, draining her magical power, and this move also prevented Lucy from using any magic while being inside of the wave. She could feel her powers being nullified, leaving her completely defenseless, and Lucy began to have her doubts about being able to win this match. With no magical power, what could she do?

"Don't give up, Lucy! I know that you can beat this guy! I know how scared you are about using that Darkness Magic, knowing how powerful it is, but that does not matter! So that type of magic has a different feel to it, but so what? You proved that you were proficient in the other types of magic when you went up against Hikari, Suna, Natsu, and even me! That book reacts to the feelings in your heart more than anything else, you know! Believe in yourself, Lucy, because I believe in you!" Sting shouted to her with a stern look on his face, as his hands gripped the railing tightly while he did not want to see her be defeated.

Lucy had her doubts about that, but then she looked up at Sting and locked her frustrated cocoa brown eyes with his stern blue eyes for a moment. Everyone in the stadium was silent while this was going on, and Lisanna even looked a little amazed when she noticed them communicating just through eye contact. Their chemistry had grown to that level, but what would it bring?After a few moments, Lucy smiled and assurance replaced the frustrated look in her eyes. A smirk of confidence appeared on her face, causing Sting to have a poised facial expression as he gave her a thumbs-up and smiled back at her. He watched his girlfriend turn back towards Yuka, and Lucy had definitely come up with something brilliant while using the non-spell ability of gravity to dispel the Wave Seal.

"There's no chance of you winning this match, and nothing can help you now!" Yuka told his opponent in a cocky manner while grinning at his supposed victory over a barely standing Lucy.

Everyone wondered if it was over for the brown-eyed girl, since she was just having her two hands stretched out in front of her with her palms facing up towards the sun, but Lucy was actually absorbing gravity into her hands for some magical power to recharge her body. She was also inhaling some air, allowing the non-spell ability of Wind Magic to come into play as well to fully replenish her supply of magical power, and that certainly surprised Wendy and Chelia. A purple aura engulfed Lucy's body while she concentrated her emotions into the Darkness Magic, embracing its power instead of fearing it this time, and the book allowed Darcy's spirit to take over.

The purple aura now entered Darcy's mouth, allowing her to consume all of it, and she currently had control over Lucy's body. She had the blonde hair obscuring her amethyst purple eyes, not wanting to be found out by spectators like Gray and Juvia, and Darcy grinned evilly while beginning to giggle in a very dark manner. She was going to let Yuka know that this match was finally getting started for real, and she had an alternative way of getting past the Wave Magic. If she couldn't attack from up close or hit him, why not think outside the box?

She took a deep breath while calming down a bit, and then she began to sing in a ghostly town that surprised everyone, "The ruin in which is no sun, it leaves the spirit of death that was forgotten. The cold spirit that haunts you, it is nothing more than my Dark Optica. Close your eyes and rest now, since the grave's power will make sure you no longer wake up in this world." (Basically, the melody of the song sounded similar to Lavender Town's music in the Red, Blue, and Yellow versions.)

Yuka did not understand what was going on at first, until Darcy slowly lifted the blonde hair over her left eye to show him that it was amethyst purple instead of being cocoa brown. She began to point her index fingers outward, waving them from left to right like metronomes, and this was obviously the advanced version of Dark Optica. It had caused a violet aura to surround Yuka's body, and he gasped in shock while finding himself unable to move or look away from the movements of Darcy's fingers.

He suddenly felt his body begin to collapse like it had lost all of its energy in that mere moment, and Yuka fell to the ground while feeling his eyelids begin to get heavy like he was exhausted. Darcy walked over to him with a sinister look in her amethyst purple eyes, and this version of Dark Optica allowed her to use any spell from her arsenal of Darkness Magic. She chose to use Nightmare Eater, perfect for a sleeping opponent, and Darcy simply placed her left hand on Yuka's forehead. She began to absorb not only the violet aura, but his thoughts as well. She replaced them all with nightmares while absorbing his magical power, and he began to toss and turn in his sleep like something was torturing him.

Darcy smirked at the power of her move, and she whispered faintly while looking at Yuka as she walked away from him before winking with her left eye, "I call upon thee, the first spell, Dark Optica."

In an instant, a violet blast of Darkness Magic transpired on the spot where Yuka had been sleeping. He woke up to take the full damage of the attack, screaming like he was actually in a nightmare, and all of the power was focused into a single point. Darcy had so much power in her attacks, controlling the flow of energy in such a perfect way, and the smoke cleared up quickly to reveal that Yuka was unconscious with his eyes open while he seemed to be choking from the poisonous side effect. Darcy laughed for a few seconds, before turning back into Lucy for her to be shocked at her win.

The blonde mage's eyes reverted back to being cocoa brown, and she gasped in pure amazement while looking down at her choking opponent. Lucy could not believe that she had done it again, putting her hands over her mouth, and she also felt replenished as if she had used the Nightmare Eater spell. Lucy looked up at the audience to see everyone looking shocked at what she had done to her opponent, and Lucy felt bad about it. However, she then heard a pair of hands clapping for her to show her that she won the match.

She turned around to see Sting applauding for her with a happy smile on his face, so incredibly proud of her, and that prompted Lector to applaud for her as well. The rest of her teammates followed suit, being mimicked by the rest of the audience in the Domus Flau, and even her friends from Fairy Tail were applauding for her. Erza was cheering Lucy's name loudly, having never doubted her for even a moment, and Gray also cheered about the fact that Lucy was powerful enough to use such mysterious moves.

"I haven't seen anything like that, since… I don't know! That was a great comeback from Lucy Heartfilia, and she could just become the dark horse in this tournament! That singing was so beautiful, yet haunting, but it doesn't change the fact that Sabertooth has earned ten more points to add to their score! Lucy Heartfilia is the winner! Her two dark days have ironically produced the light of victory for her guild, which is amazing!" Chapati exclaimed loudly while his awestruck look turned into an expression that looked like he saw the most exciting thing in his life, which he probably did.

"She certainly has a great bond with her Darkness Magic, to make spells like that without having to wait a while for sleeping moves to take effect." Yajima commented calmly while smiling.

"That was just too cool, and Lucy is really cool! That was cool enough to top Erza Scarlet's victory in the Pandemonium event last year, and that's reaching a new level of cool!" Jason shouted while looking just as excited as Chapati.

Lucy jumped back up into Sabertooth's booth while Toby got Yuka off the field, and the blonde mage smiled happily while being congratulated by her teammates. Yukino happily hugged her friend for avenging her loss last year, even though the match wasn't against Kagura from Team Mermaid Heel, and Lucy hugged back while being proud to have won such a tough battle. She even ran into Sting's arms to thank him for his words of advice during the battle, since he was the main reason why she tried so hard, and Lucy smiled up at him while blushing a light shade of pink.

"Lucy, that was off the charts in my definition of awesome! Sting-kun never doubted you for a second!" Lector told her with a smile on his face, as he then saw Sting passionately kiss Lucy on the lips to show how he felt about seeing such a thrilling match.

* * *

After the cheers had ceased for Lucy, everyone was shocked to know that the only two teams left were Team Fairy Tail A and Team Fairy Tail B. Either way, Fairy Tail would get ten points. It really wouldn't matter who one, unless it was a fight against Laxus and Jellal, since that would be interesting to watch. Lucy looked happy enough to root for both teams, except if Natsu was fighting, and she knew that Erza or Gray could do well. Master Makarov knew his children never went easy on each other, either, so this would be interesting.

Surprisingly, mainly to Lucy, the match up was Natsu versus Lisanna. She looked over at Fairy Tail A's booth to now see Natsu looking pretty scared, not knowing he had been pissing off Lisanna by breaking the deal that they had made with each other, and Lucy turned to Fairy Tail B's booth to see Lisanna giving Natsu the throat-cutting gesture while giving him a death glare. Erza looked shocked to see Natsu not going out there to battle, since Lisanna was getting ready to fight, and even Gray tried to pull Natsu up off the floor.

"Um.. I withdraw! I refuse to fight right now! My crotch is injured from sliding down the pillar! Crotch burn still hurts, Gray!" Natsu shouted loud enough for everyone in the Domus Flau to hear, making Lucy and Sting laugh at his supposed misfortune.

Since Natsu had forfeited, Lisanna earned the ten points for Team Fairy Tail B. She gave Natsu a wicked smile, thanking him for doing a great job right then and there, but his debt to to earn her trust was nowhere near close to being paid in full. He had quite a long way of humiliation to go, and Natsu gave Lisanna a harsh look. However, when she pulled out the Videotape Lacrima Crystal from the left pocket of her jeans, Natsu's glare quickly turned into a nervous smile. She also had an Audio Lacrima Crystal in her right pants pocket, for everyone to hear how horrible he talked about Lucy, and being blackmailed was surely not the best way to go.

* * *

In the booth of Team Sweet Melancholy, Karen was forming another scheme. She looked pretty deep in thought while realizing that Darcy and her magic had quite the drawback on getting the powers of a blonde maiden like Lucy to show her true potential, and Karen knew that she had to try a different approach to get Lucy to understand how she could become stronger with the book's power at her disposal. There really was nothing to be afraid of, since Lucy just had to learn about control, and let's just say that talking with Karen would either help her or hurt her.

* * *

**How was Chapter 19? Did you like it? Lucy and Sting keep getting cuter in this StiCy story with their many moments, and they will continue to get more romantic as time goes on in this story. Sorry for not giving the direct orders on what Natsu has to do, but I think you saw what he must do to gain Lisanna's trust back. What will happen when Lucy and Karen cross paths again? What does Lucy find out about this woman that's so shocking? What does Karen give Lucy as another gift? Will Sting have his battle? Standby for the update!**


	20. Chapter 20

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does. This story was made for fun, and not for cash. (How unfortunate.)**

* * *

**Chapter 20: Paintings of Bright Love, Secrets of Dark Nature**

* * *

Lucy and the other members of Team Sabertooth had decided to get up early for the chance to do some sightseeing before the tournament would once again occur, and it never hurt anybody to just have a bit of fun before going into something that would seem serious. Today was the third day of the Grand Magic Games, the same day that Fairy Tail had their best performances in the tournament last year, and Lucy was feeling good about the possibility of eventually facing off against someone from the guild of her past.

After all, this day and the fourth day were the only two days left before the final battles would begin. There was a bit of a chance that Fairy Tail and Sabertooth would cross paths again like how they had done in the tag-team battle, thrilling the entire viewing world, and Lucy was going to win that fight. She had been feeling really good, ever since yesterday when she defeated Yuka Suzuki from Team Lamia Scale in their battle, but Lucy still did not know how she had managed to do it without even reciting a spell.

She was still unaware of Darcy's existence within the book, hiding like an alter-ego that showed its face only when something was triggered, and Lucy was actually beginning to like her Darkness Magic. She liked it a little bit, since it hadn't blown the stadium sky high with its powerful spells, and Lucy had taken Sting's advice for this type of magic. She had to embrace the fearlessness of it, not be frightened by this new power, and Lucy's fierceness was also the reason for Darcy taking over. The fiercer that the blonde mage acted, the more powerful the amethyst-eyed spirit became.

Darcy's spells of darkness had always made Lucy lose consciousness while she used them, but she was never actually knocked out. The emotional parts of Lucy's heart would be unconscious while Darcy had taken over, letting her sinister purple aura engulf Lucy's soul for a temporary amount of time, and the violet-haired woman was certainly powerful. After all, she had managed to defeat a skilled user of Wave Magic by using her dark melody from Lavender Town. That actually put him to sleep, and following up with Nightmare Eater and Dark Optica was a great strategy.

Lucy and Sting were in the art gallery of the main museum located in Crocus, looking at many of the beautiful paintings that were on the walls, and each painting was situated perfectly in a golden frame. There were paintings of the Fairy Tail guild, a painting of Galuna Island, and there were even portraits of mages like Zeref. He surely wouldn't be posing for a picture, but he seemed to be sleeping in one painting. Whoever managed to paint that sight without being killed was certainly lucky, were they not?

Lucy's outfit today consisted of a sky blue T-shirt with a viridian green miniskirt to match, and her flat shoes were red. She wore her blonde hair in a side ponytail on the left side of her head, and Lucy looked fashionable as always. She smiled happily while standing next to Sting, both of them admiring a portrait of two people romantically kissing at a cafe, and Lucy sighed happily while hugging the guy who was certainly her best boyfriend. Lucy felt so happy to be around Sting, especially he cared so much about her.

After seeing him defeat Natsu in the event on the previous day of the Grand Magic Games, Lucy was glad to know that Sting loved her enough to not let a jerk like Natsu get away with talking bad about her. She had really wanted to personally make that jerk pay, though, since the conflict was more intense between the two of them. Lucy still found herself laughing at the fact that Natsu had forfeited his match to Lisanna yesterday because of a supposed crotch injury, and she only wished that she had been the one to crack his walnuts with her powerful kicks.

"Yesterday was so great, Sting. You encouraged me to do my best, and I won the match. We even got to see Natsu forfeit as well, and Erza probably isn't too happy about that. You did really good in the event, and that new move of yours was really cool. If you have a battle today, I'll definitely be cheering for you because I have faith in you. I know that you'll win, Sting." Lucy told him in a kind manner, smiling happily with joy twinkling in her beautiful cocoa brown eyes that looked lovelier than chocolate.

The white dragon slayer replied calmly, smirking with his usual high amount of confidence, "Thank you, Lucy. It makes me happy to hear you say that, you know. I'll definitely win for you if I have a battle, and the event probably won't be too hard for you or Rogue to do. Hearing you cheer me on would be the best sound in the world to me, and I agree with you about Natsu's withdraw against that white-haired chick. I didn't even see him shimmy down the pole or slide down it to even get a crotch injury, but we both know how stupid he can be."

That last remark about Natsu made Lucy giggle happily, definitely knowing that it was certainly true, and she was really glad to have a guy like Sting as her boyfriend. Not only was he so powerful, confident, smart, and totally hot, but he was also a pretty nice guy who could tell very funny jokes. Lucy always laughed at any puns that he would come up with, such as when they once fought a few enemies in a cave near the town of Nibi, and the fact that those guys were wielding spears made Sting say that they looked like they had a few points to make. (Was that corny, or not?)

Since the Grand Magic Games started in an hour, with a ticking clock interestingly placed above a portrait of a clock, Sting and Lucy both blushed at each other before they smiled and shared a passionate kiss. Their love was certainly great to see, and their chemistry really helped with their teamwork as well. Sting and Lucy were a pretty good duo, even though they never used their abilities in combinations with each other to make a Unison Raid, and they certainly were a cute couple. The blue-eyed male smirked at Lucy, before challenging her to a race to the Domus Flau, and Lucy giggled playfully while chasing after him to make sure that he wouldn't win three races in a row.

While they had ran off to have some fun and enjoy the tournament, Lucy and Sting did not even know that Karen had been watching them from inside of a shadow that a painting of the constellations in the night sky was casting. The woman with silvery-blue hair had specifically hid underneath this particular painting, not because it looked pretty cool, but it was made solely with Heavenly Body Magic. No matter how many times the painting would be defaced or broken when it fell and hit the floor, the Heavenly Body Magic would make this painting repair itself perfectly without any damage ever being seen.

Karen knew that her master, the original wielder of this strange book, had used Heavenly Body Magic back in the days of when their plan almost came to fruition. However, an incident with Fairy Tail had caused the plan to be halted almost indefinitely. Karen was able to survive back then without getting a scratch, but her master was not so lucky. In order to save her dying master, Karen had merged the book wielder's soul with the shadow of the spell book. The light from her master's opponent was bright enough to not only stretch out the shadows, but it pulled out the many types of magic and spread them across Earthland. Since Karen did not have a pure soul and a heart of gold, there was no way for her to look for the auras or transfer those types of magic from other people into the book for her to use.

When Lucy came into her plans by pure coincidence, Karen obviously had to see if she was the one who could read the book. While it was true that ages had gone by since her master had been sealed into the book, there was one thing that the woman with silvery-blue hair was shocked to realize when she was finding out some info on Lucy. This certain piece of info had really shaken Karen up, getting her more excited about this instead of being freaked out, and it made Karen glad that she had chosen Lucy. She had secretly smudged Lucy's spell book with the pink paint of Heavenly Body Magic, waiting for the book to change color, and that would lead to the seventh seal.

However, the gift after that was not obtainable by natural means of traveling to distant lands or absorbing another type of magic. This special gift was one that Karen's master had asked her to keep safe before she had to be sealed away, and it could only be used when the seven seals were all broken. Was it limitless godly power, giving her abilities like Erza with her Nakagami Armor? No, it was not. After all, no matter how much she wanted all the power to be unleashed, Karen knew about the book's tips and rules that the book wielder had to abide by. She just had to get Lucy alone with her to give this gift to the blonde maiden, and she certainly deserved to hear some interesting things. Karen sunk down into the shadow of a nearby painting, and went off to wait for the right moment.

* * *

**Meanwhile, at the Domus Flau...**

Natsu had looked pretty beaten up for forfeiting against Lisanna yesterday, and Erza had obviously given him a left black eye. She wasn't the type of person who liked to lose, and she certainly did not want to lose the Grand Magic Games against any of the other competing guilds. Team Fairy Tail A was currently in third place with 26 points, only six points behind the other team competing for the Fairy Tail guild, and it was all because of Natsu. If he had beaten Sting and Lisanna, then Fairy Tail would have been in first place with 38 points to be tied with Sabertooth.

However, the scarlet-haired mage also had no clue that Natsu was actually forced to throw that battle yesterday. He owed Lisanna for being a total jerk to her and to Lucy, even though he was really showing no remorse for the latter because she was dating his blond rival, and the white-haired girl was also blackmailing him with a Videotape Lacrima Crystal. There was also an Audio Lacrima Crystal as well, letting everyone hear about how Natsu had acted around Lisanna, and they would also hear how he had treated Lucy.

Lisanna had wanted to be on good terms with Lucy and be great friends with someone who was so well-liked, but Natsu had definitely ruined that plan by starting a fight with Lucy. She had surprisingly managed to kick his egotistical butt with Fire Magic, really making a big blow to his pride, and Natsu was only lucky that Erza had stopped the fight. Otherwise, Lucy's fourth spell would have destroyed him. She had even kicked his butt with Earth Magic when he stormed into the Sabertooth guild to look for the red book, and hurting Sting was certainly a bad move.

The fire dragon slayer was certainly getting his bad karma for what he done, and he looked over at Team Fairy Tail B's booth to see that Lisanna evilly smirked while using her Take-Over ability only on her hands to show him her sharp Tigress claws that were ready to maul him when that time came around. If he wanted his pride to be protected, as well as earning Lisanna's back, then he had to do exactly as she instructed. Natsu lasting longer than Mira in that event yesterday, along with fighting against Sting, were things that Lisanna had not allowed him to do. He would certainly be getting pain for that, right?

He also could not tell anyone about the deal that he had made with Lisanna, leaving him silenced and begging for mercy from Erza when he had forfeited that match. She had even made Mira tear Natsu's clothes off to see if he had even gotten a serious injury to his crotch in that event on the second day of the Grand Magic Games, and the blue-eyed woman had seen that everything was fine. For lying to the team like that, Erza had given Natsu a hard kick to his groin for him to know the pain of being kicked in such a tender area.

"I don't know what made you be off your game yesterday when you had the opportunity to show off and be arrogant about fighting your ex, Natsu, but you better get your act together today. We're in third place, and I was hoping that we wouldn't descend further from second place. If you lose anything else for us, then you can guarantee that I will make your life become miserable in Fairy Tail. It would be perfect for how you treated Lucy." Erza sternly told him while narrowing her brown eyes, ready to pound some sense into his head.

The fire dragon slayer replied while looking annoyed, muttering under his breath, "Lisanna's already making me going through a living hell, so just shut up."

Erza angrily asked him to say that louder to her, not hearing exactly what he had said, and Natsu looked a bit scared while putting his hands up in a defensive manner. He really had a habit of not thinking before he spoke, often saying the wrong things loudly to make himself look bad, but Natsu was lucky this time. He simply scowled in a frustrated manner while hearing Gajeel and Laxus both snicker at his misfortune, making the fire dragon slayer sigh sadly at the fact that he was now in a lose-lose situation with the opposing wishes of Erza and Lisanna.

At least he was now learning the biggest life lesson, involving the fact that a girl should never get used by a guy, or she will retaliate in a big way. Upsetting women could also make them have a dislike for him, and Natsu was learning this lesson the hard way. He already had Lucy and Lisanna hating him for all of the horrible things that he had done to them, and now Erza was hating him for throwing a challenge that could've given Fairy Tail a pretty close edge near Sabertooth to help them when the final day arrived.

* * *

**10 minutes later...**

Lucy and Sting made it to their team's booth to see that the rest of their team had gotten there before they did, but it did not really matter that much. Everyone wondered the event of the third day would be, hoping that it wouldn't require so much creativity like Appealing Ace or be pretty deadly like Pillar Battle, and some people were actually happy that the events were different than the ones from last year because they did not want to participate in games like Pandemonium or Hidden.

Either way, the game would have some kind of twist to it to most likely prevent anyone from making a straightforward strategy that would help them win easily. That would efface anyone's hopes of saying that the games were mediocre, since they certainly were not. Of course, there were ways around the stern rules of each event. Some people who were smart like Lucy could find the malleability in the rules, and crafty people like Karen could be sneaky without anybody seeing or sensing a single thing.

"Welcome to the third day of the Grand Magic Games, ladies and gentlemen! I can tell that Sabertooth is really letting us all know that they plan to make quite a comeback, but the Fairy Tail teams aren't too far behind! They aren't getting lazy about this competition, and Fairy Tail could come from behind to win! Will they ever settle their rivalry, and can anyone topple them down? We'll have to see what thrills us all today!" Chapati exclaimed with an excited facial expression, wanting to see some more raging battles like Lucy's battle against Yuka from Team Lamia Scale.

"Let's see who is the best at working in sync with their magic, shall we?" Yajima commented, as a smile found its way on to his face.

The guest judge for the third day was Lahar, the Head Captain of the Custody Enforcement Unit and he was also a member of the Magic Council. He smiled while not saying anything, and only hoping he wouldn't have another situation like when him and Doranbolt found out that Jellal was posing as Mystogan. He also hoped that there wouldn't be cheaters this year, like Team Raven Tail. The Rune Knights also sat in various places to watch the Grand Magic Games, and one of them even failed to recognize Suna from the dark guild known as Silent Outcry while he was sitting right next to her in the stands.

Lucy looked down at her spell book that she had in her left hand to see that it had somehow turned pink, not being purple anymore to represent the spells of Darkness Magic, and she gasped in shock while wondering what type of magic she had came across now. She hadn't found any auras, nor had she absorbed a new type of magic from anyone, so what was up with the book? Lucy had no idea about what Karen had done, and the Heavenly Body Magic had the unique non-spell ability of removing the pink paint while the book remained in that color. It did not want Lucy to get suspicious, from the looks of things.

Despite having a new type of magic, Lucy wasn't going to use it right away. She did not even know if it was going to have strange effects like the Darkness Magic that made her lose consciousness when she had used it, and she had also felt a weird presence from it as well. This new type of magic could probably make her go insane, jump to high heights for the spells to be used, or even run at high speeds. However, she could not just assume what it would do or assume what side effects it would have. Just to be safe, though, Lucy would only use her Celestial Spirit Keys.

Everyone turned their attention to Chapati when he announced the event for the third day of the Grand Magic Games, and he surprisingly announced that this event would be quite a major change for everyone who competed in last year's tournament. The event was known as "Great Gambler", and it was not a mental challenge or a physical challenge. This was a game of luck, just like how a real gambler would hope to get lucky and win big, prompting everyone to look a bit shocked that something like this would be happening.

Luck had never been part of the Grand Magic Games in the past years, and some people like Rufus looked a bit shocked at this. He could not memorize or cheat to change things that would occur in a game of chance, and the cards would also probably be face-down as well. Lucy looked a bit disappointed at the fact that she wouldn't be able to use her Celestial Spirits in something like this, and the book also would not prove to be useful here. Sting also looked shocked at this change, but then he became calm while having faith in Lucy. After all, her name was only one letter away from spelling "lucky."

No magic was allowed in this event, leaving it all up to chance, and that made this event pretty hard for everybody. Gajeel volunteered to do this event for Team Fairy Tail A, much to Natsu's annoyance since it would break his deal with Lisanna, but the iron dragon slayer grinned confidently while knowing that he always had pretty good luck. Team Fairy Tail B chose Lisanna to represent them because she wanted to do it, and Sting had given Lucy enough encouragement for her to participate in this event for Team Sabertooth. All that she needed was a little luck, you know.

The blonde maiden's participation in an event that did not involve magic was certainly a bit troublesome to Karen, who stood in the booth where Team Sweet Melancholy was located, and she smiled calmly while jumping down from her team's booth with a clever smirk on her face. She was not going to let luck not be on Lucy's side, and Karen wanted the confidence of the blonde mage to keep rising for her strong emotions to be unleashed whenever she used spells from the book. Besides, there was only one seal left.

Chelia Blendy decided to join in on the game for Team Lamia Scale, and Hibiki Lates volunteered to try and win the event for Team Blue Pegasus. Kagura allowed Milliana to participate in the event for Team Mermaid Heel, and Bacchus was going to try and win this event for Team Quatro Cerberus because he was pretty good at card games that involved gambling. After all of the participants had been chosen for each team, they all walked to the center of the battlefield for Mato to explain the rules to them.

He commanded the field to open, simply having the mages behind the scenes use magic to create what appeared to be a poker table, and everyone looked surprised by its sudden appearance. The table had only sixteen playing cards on it, making everyone look really curious as to why this game would not be played with a full deck, and Mato told them that the event known as "Great Gambler" required all the participants to pick two random face-down cards from the table. It was a simple game of chance, really.

Nobody knew what cards they were going to get, and Mato also let them know that aces counted as eleven points instead of one. Whoever had the highest number from the total of their pair would receive ten points for their team, and whoever had the lowest number would get zero points for their team. Mato smiled and danced around while telling everyone to simply choose two cards from the table. The competitors were also not allowed to look at each other's cards, but who really would want to see who got lucky?

Lucy looked a bit nervous, being the last one to grab two cards from the table, and she groaned in frustration at her luck when she saw what cards she had gotten. They were a two of clubs and a three of spades, totaling up to five, and that was the lowest score that could be achieved in the game. She looked pretty down about this, thinking that luck had run out for Sabertooth, but she did not know that this event had a sneaky cheater in its midst. Lucy was wishing that the cards could be reshuffled and drawn again, but she wouldn't be saying that when her eyes were closed in frustration.

When the blonde mage had closed her cocoa brown eyes, Karen had a sly smirk on her face while everyone stood around the table. The woman with silvery-blue hair noticed that everyone's cards were making shadows above the ground, prompting her to silently direct the shadows of the cards to switch to different people, and switching the shadows of the cards would also switch around which cards everyone had in their possession. Nobody even noticed how their cards had been tampered with in the blink of an eye, or the reshuffling of the shadows, and this game was sure to get interesting now.

Bacchus grinned confidently while playing his cards first, knowing that he had a black king of spades and a red queen of hearts, but then he looked shocked to find that he now had Lucy's two of clubs and her three of spades. This totaled up to five, the lowest score in the game, and Team Quatro Cerberus immediately earned zero points. Bacchus Groh left the field with a somewhat annoyed look on his face, and he muttered about the event not being wild enough to be in his favor. Milliana played the three of hearts and the three of diamonds, earning a score of six, and Team Mermaid Heel had only gained one point. She walked back to her team's booth, and Kagura simply looked annoyed.

Hibiki now had the four of spades and the four of diamonds, totaling his pair up to eight, but that wasn't exactly a pretty high score. He earned two points for Team Blue Pegasus, and looked pretty shocked to know that his calculations were off. Well, nothing could really be calculated exactly in a game of chance. Chelia had the four of clubs and the five of hearts, getting her a score of nine, and that helped her earn three points for Team Lamia Scale. Lyon sighed sadly while thinking that he should have done the event, since he wouldn't have picked the first two cards on the left side of the top row of four like Chelia had done.

Surprisingly, Gajeel had drawn the ace of spades. However, he had only gotten a score of thirteen because he had also drawn the two of hearts. Since none of the other three competitors looked at him like their pair values were lower than his, Gajeel earned four points for Team Fairy Tail A. This made Natsu want to laugh at him, but it would be stupid to do that. After all, Gajeel could easily make a comeback that let Natsu know that he did not forfeit his battle on the first day. Burning a fire dragon slayer like that would be irony, would it not?

Lisanna kindly showed Lucy and Karen her pair of cards to let them see that she had the ten of clubs and the six of diamonds, but neither of her opponents looked like their cards had a lower pair value than sixteen. Lisanna got six points for Team Fairy Tail B, and she hugged Lucy while wishing her good luck before she went back to her team's booth where they were waiting for her. Natsu looked upset to know that Lisanna scored higher than his team by playing fair, but he had to cheat on her. On top of that, Lucy was still in the event.

The blonde girl fiercely looked into Karen's eyes, seeing nothing but calmness in her silvery-blue eyes, and Lucy really wanted to earn those ten points for her team. She could hear Karen giggling a bit, almost as if something was a bit funny, but what was there to laugh about? Lucy did not intend on losing this event to her, and she showed Karen her pair of cards while the mysterious woman did the same for Lucy. Karen had the ten of hearts and the ten of spades, totaling up to a score of twenty, but Lucy had surprised everyone. She had the ten of diamonds, and the ace of hearts to get a score of 21.

Lucy had won the event for Team Sabertooth, having the pair of cards that totaled up to the highest numerical value, and she had earned ten more points for her guild. Karen had earned eight points for Team Sweet Melancholy, but that still let them hold fourth place for now. She was glad to have helped Lucy out in this event, seeing the look on her face that told Karen that she did not want to lose, and Karen smiled in a scheming manner while knowing she just had to keep letting Lucy's confidence go up. The poker table disappeared, and both girls went back to their booths while having tasted victory.

* * *

**10 minutes later…**

The battles of day three were now ready to begin, and everyone looked thrilled while anticipating what kinds of battles they would get to witness today. Karen knew that she did the right thing by giving the spell book to Lucy, and she also knew that the blonde maiden would not immediately use her seventh type of magic. After all, the Darkness Magic had pretty much frightened Lucy before Sting had encouraged her to embrace it. Besides, the Heavenly Body Magic still needed some more time to charge up to its full potential.

Karen had been smirking evilly while the first battle had put her up against Bacchus from Team Quatro Cerberus, and she started things off by doing nothing at all. She simply stood there while he drank some booze, getting ready to defeat her with the Drunk-Chop Hanging Palm, and Bacchus had laughed wildly when he finished drinking from the brown gourd. He ran towards her at high speeds, preparing to end the match in a single strike, but Karen snapped her fingers while giggling at the fact that Bacchus did what she wanted him to do.

Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks when he began to feel like there was nothing he was standing on. Karen had made the shadow of Bacchus turn into a large hole that spread out around him, making him no longer feel the sandy ground, and the drunk man fell through the hole while screaming. The shadowy hole quickly closed up and vanished, making everyone wonder where Bacchus went, and Karen had won the match by the fact that her opponent had left the arena. Team Sweet Melancholy gained ten more points, putting them on even footing with Fairy Tail A while both teams had a score of 32 points.

The second battle was between Gray Fullbuster from Team Fairy Tail A and Risley Law from Team Mermaid Heel. Gray immediately used his Ice-Make Magic to simply make Risley be frozen inside of a large ice cube, and the ice mage gained ten more points for his team. Team Fairy Tail A was now ahead of Team Fairy Tail B by only four points, but could those tables turn once again? Lisanna certainly hoped so while she continued to glare at Natsu for not holding up the end of their deal, and she was thinking about cutting him loose from her list of guys to ever date.

The third battle pitted Toby Horhorta from Team Lamia Scale up against Cana Alberona from Team Fairy Tail B, and Cana was quick enough to play an Explosion card. This card made three sticks of lit dynamite roll towards her opponent, and the explosion from the short fuses sent Toby flying high into the skies. He landed somewhere far from the arena, presumably crashing into a house when he came down to the ground, and Cana won the match. She earned ten more points for her team, now putting them six points ahead of Team Fairy Tail A.

With that battle over, the final battle of the third day could now commence. It was obviously between Team Sabertooth and Team Blue Pegasus, since they were the last guilds left to fight. Sting knew that the time was finally here for him to have a great battle against whoever his opponent was, and the white dragon slayer smirked confidently with strength had made its way into his calm blue eyes. He let Lucy know that she had to give him a kiss if he managed to win against someone like Ichiya, but he looked shocked to see her opening up the now pink spell book to check out the seventh section.

Now realizing that the book had turned pink, Sting looked over his girlfriend's right shoulder to see that the readable words were in hot pink text while the unreadable words were in lemonade pink. He couldn't read the book, but he could tell what was readable from seeing all the lines of the first two pages of the seventh section in hot pink while the rest of that section had its characters in lemonade pink. Lucy seemed very focused into this type of magic, smiling at the names and the descriptions of the spells, and Sting was lucky to be focusing his attention on her right now.

He had not been paying attention to Chapati's announcement about the match between Team Sabertooth and Team Blue Pegasus, and it had actually pitted Rogue Cheney up against Ren Akatsuki. Rogue had started off the match by disappearing into the shadows, and he appeared behind his opponent to send him crashing into a wall with a simple Shadow Dragon's Roar. Since Rogue was not interested in dragging this fight out, he looked emotionless while wanting to end it as fast as possible. Rogue won the match, giving ten more points to Team Sabertooth.

* * *

**Later that same day, in a grassy park...**

Lucy sat down on a bench in a grassy park, all alone with nobody around for her to really have some quiet time, and she had been studying the spell book that had recently turned pink. The book had informed her that she had now entered the section of Heavenly Body Magic, magic that focused mainly on the powers of the stars and planets, and this type of magic did not come with a spirit like Darcy. Lucy could freely use this magic without many worries involved, and the color pink must have meant that this magic was drawing its power from Lucy's positive energy.

She had tested out the first spell that was known as Heavenly Slice, and the pink book had made hot pink beams of light shine from the first two lines of hot pink text on the first page. This spell caused the fingernails on Lucy's hands to grow long and pink, reaching about at least three inches, and something interested happened whenever she spun around while pretending to slash at enemies. Many pink blasts of energy transpired around her, almost like she had sliced the space around her, and her fingernails turned back to normal after thirty seconds.

The second spell had caused Lucy to spin around at an extremely fast pace, something that would make her future enemies seem a bit curious, and this spell was known as Heavenly Barrier. Many pink star-shaped projectiles floated around Lucy in a circle, spreading out to widen their defensive radius upon her command, and the pink stars would all explode in miniature pink blasts when even one was hit. The wider the radius, the larger the blasts. It was quite useful on distant foes, since the blast could even be warped to hit a faraway foe. Quite useful, don't you think?

Her third spell was known as Spacial Saint, and it caused a pink beam of Heavenly Body Magic to come down from the heavens and hit Lucy. This beam had not hurt her at all, but it made her become extremely durable while healing her completely and boosting the power of her attacks with every blast that she would create afterwards. It was quite useful in conjunction with the first two spells, since its side effect enhanced everything. She could move much faster while being strong enough to crash through a nearby rock, and Lucy was unscathed.

Finally, her fourth spell was known as Spacial Shooting Stars. It caused Lucy to be able to move at high speeds, and she could also jump high into the air like Jellal Fernandes when he used the Meteor spell. The pink spell book had let her know that this spell interesting required Magic Circles to be drawn, similar to when Jellal used Grand Chariot, and Lucy had drawn the shape of a star while putting Magic Circles on the five points of the pink star. Many small pink meteors rained down from the sky, making many pink explosions when they hit the ground, but they were all only concentrated on hitting a large boulder at Lucy's request.

Lucy came down from the sky while slowly floating downward because of the pink aura surrounding her body, and she fell to her knees when she landed on the grass. Using all four spells in succession like that had caused Lucy to use up a lot of magical power, but she could replenish it by inhaling air when the stars were out at nighttime, and she could also gain more energy by using the non-spell ability of Heavenly Body Magic. She could throw rocks high into the air, making them go high enough to reach outer space, but then hey would come crashing down like meteorites while a pink aura surrounded them. Lucy could touch the meteorites, and absorb their spacial energy, filling up her stamina.

"Well, well. It has been quite a long time since we last met, young maiden." A familiar voice told Lucy in a kind manner, as the woman began to emerge from the shadow of the nearby bench.

Lucy used the non-spell ability of Wind Magic to replenish her energy by inhaling air, and she was able to stand up on her own two feet. She looked straight ahead to see Karen Melancholia, the woman who had given her the sealed book for her to try and open it when they had first met, and Lucy also recognized her from being on Team Sweet Melancholy. However, the blonde mage did not know that those teammates of Karen's had actually been made from the shadows to act as a real team for Karen to do her observations without easily looking creepy.

The brown-eyed girl replied happily while running to hug Karen, having worried about the so-called strange merchant for a while, "You're the woman who helped me out in the event today, and you also gave me this spell book. I never got to thank you for that, and it's worked so well for me. I know seven types of magic now, and I can't wait until my Heavenly Body Magic is perfected to eventually give Natsu what he deserves."

Karen innocently asked who Natsu was again, despite having kept an eye on him through the shadows when the attention was not focused on Lucy, and the blonde girl let Karen know that he was the guy who had kicked her off of his team to replace her with Lisanna. He had been acting like such a jerk to her, putting his stupid arrogance over kindness, and Lucy had even beaten him down with Fire Magic. She could not wait to face him in another battle, especially since he had talked so bad about her yesterday, and Lucy looked confident about winning against him.

Before she could continue on, Karen told her in a sweet manner while gently placing her soft left hand on Lucy's right cheek to caress it, "You are such a beautiful and ambitious young girl. I'm very glad to have given you that book, and I can even feel your power being emitted while we stand here. Lucy, you are so very kind. However, I don't think that you know how to tap into your full hatred for Natsu. You really should show him that he cannot push you around, especially with all the power you wield with the book. It's a very sweet power."

Lucy's brown eyes widened a bit from hearing that there was a power sweeter than this pink Heavenly Body Magic, and she smiled a bit while liking the fact that Karen had referred to her as "ambitious." She certainly was a very driven person, and Lucy clenched her fists upon looking at her motives from another angle. She wasn't just looking for romance, but she sought power as well. With more power, she could become stronger. Of course, she could still only use one type of magic at a time. Did power come for free, though?

"What kind of power is it?" Lucy curiously asked, wanting to know more about what Karen was offering to her.

Karen explained nicely while hugging Lucy, having the blonde girl's face in front of the ample cleavage behind her yellow top, "It's the power that was once wielded by the previous owner of the book. You and her are so much alike, it's almost scary. Well, she was like you. I can't even remember how many ages ago it was, really."

Lucy did not understand what Karen meant by many ages going by, especially since this woman looked like she was in her twenties. What was going on?

Karen released Lucy from the hug, and handed her an object that appeared to be black perfume in a bottle. This was what Karen's master had told her to keep safe from so many centuries, and that was no ordinary perfume. Lucy happily looked at the bottle, seeing how expensive and how full the bottle had looked, and it seemed like no other store carried this kind of perfume. It smelled okay when Lucy sniffed the cap, smelling something reminiscent of chocolate and coffee, prompting her to smile a bit while accepting Karen's gift.

"I promise to take care of this gift. Thank you so much, Karen Melancholia." Lucy told her in an appreciative manner while smiling at the bottle of black perfume that she now had.

Karen replied in a sultry tone while walking a few steps closer to Lucy, getting close enough to where some news could be whispered in her right ear, "I did some checking around about you, you sweet blonde maiden, and guess what. The kindest people like you are the ones that are really loved by almost everyone, and I have a feeling that you'll fight Natsu tomorrow. With my perfume of beauty, you will finally show him that you are powerful. Smell good for him and Sting, Lucy, and you will show them how you can also not be a sweet girl in a fight."

Before Lucy could ask about that, Karen disappeared into the shadow of a leaf when tourists began to pass by. She left Lucy feeling a bit confused about the perfume for a few moments, but then the blonde mage smiled and saw this as good news to help cheer up Sting since Rogue had told him that he was not chosen to fight in the battle today.

* * *

**How was Chapter 20? Did you like it? The StiCy keeps on coming, and Sting will have his epic battle in the next chapter. I changed the plot a bit to fit it with the upcoming chapter, since that's where you'll find out what the book means. Anyway, how will the next day's tag-team battles go? Will Lucy and Sting finally fight Natsu and his partner? What happens when the black perfume is used? What will the book unleash? Why does Makarov tremble? Standby for the update!**


	21. Chapter 21

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does. This story was made for fun, and not for cash. (How unfortunate.)**

* * *

**Chapter 21: The Last Seal, The First Master**

* * *

Sting had awoken to the sounds of birds chirping on the ledges of his room's balcony, along with light shining through the windows while the sun was rising into the sky. That signaled the end of the third night and the beginning of the fourth day of the Grand Magic Games. Sting knew the sponsors had never changed how the battle format went, even though they changed the events, and this was the day for the tag-team battles to occur. Instead of battling alone, people had to battle in teams of two.

He still remembered how he and Rogue lost to Natsu and Gajeel last year, causing Jiemma to be extremely angry with them. Sting wanted to win against them as payback for Fairy Tail having Mavis to give them an easy strategy for victory. That was certainly an unfair advantage, was it not? He didn't want to just win for his sake, but he wanted to be partnered with Lucy because she had her reasons for wanting to get back at her brash ex-boyfriend. Natsu kicked her off of his team, and Lucy thought that by beating Fairy Tail that she would be stronger than how she was in the past.

Also, Sting had the intent of winning in his blue eyes from witnessing Natsu's brash and dense attitude firsthand during the Pillar Battle event. The fire dragon slayer referred to Lucy as useless, which definitely prompted him to get first place. Not only did Sting detest Natsu's attitude towards Lucy, but the fact that he had been bullying her around like she was weaker than him and showed no remorse whatsoever about the whole situation only fueled Sting's drive to win today. He was going to make his girlfriend proud, especially if they were partnered up today.

Drifting his negative thoughts and passionate drive aside for a moment, Sting smiled a little when he saw his girlfriend sleeping and snoring softly while having her head on his chest while her hands were on the white dragon slayer's rock-hard abdominals. Lucy was smiling and blushing happily while she was still getting her energy back from using the spells of Heavenly Body Magic, and she let out a blissful sigh while she appeared to be having a wonderful dream. When she unconsciously planted a kiss on Sting's chest, he chuckled a little bit and ran his fingers through her long blonde hair.

The soft and warm feeling caused Lucy to slowly open her cocoa brown eyes, and she blushed a deep shade of red while gasping a little when she looked up at Sting to see him chuckling happily from her lips giving soft kisses to his skin. She released her lips from his skin, and smiled when Sting put his arms around her waist. The duo laid under the white bed sheets together, realizing they were both nude, but they had trusted each other immensely to know that moves wouldn't be made in any way unless they wanted to reach that point in their relationship.

"Good morning, Sting. It's a beautiful morning for the fourth day, and that sunrise feels so renewing. Fate might truly shine on us today." Lucy told him while smiling and speaking in her beautifully calm voice, before looking into her boyfriend's enchanting blue eyes and happily giggling.

"The sunrise isn't beautiful like you, though. Anyway, I hope you know that today is going to be where people battle in pairs for the tag-team battles. It's been like that ever since the Grand Magic Games first began. I just know it'll be some far from random matchup, since Sabertooth fought against Fairy Tail last year. Good morning to you, too, by the way." Sting replied with his usual cocky grin, as he looked into her brown eyes that were filled with determination and caressed her back softly.

Lucy had remembered last year's tag battle between Fairy Tail and Sabertooth, and she had been cheering for Natsu. This year, as a member of Sabertooth, she was no longer weak like how she had been back then. If she were to compete alongside Sting, with Natsu and whoever else as her opponents, if would definitely be a test to herself to see if her future could officially overcome her past. It would also be pretty lucky, if the matchup perfectly ended up in her favor. Wouldn't that certainly be a gift from fate?

Now that it was the fourth day, she also wondered what the event would be like. She knew from personal experience how Minerva had almost killed her in the Naval Battle last year, but Lucy also knew that was ancient history. Minerva had not been seen since last year's Grand Magic Games, making some people wonder what had happened to her, and not a trace of her had been found anywhere. What would the event for the fourth day be like, with the past three events being different for the competition this year?

"Well, no matter who it is from Fairy Tail, we're going to win this thing! I might not be as strong as Erza or Laxus right now, but that will not stop me from trying my best to wipe that arrogant grin off of my jerky ex-boyfriend's face! He may think that it's funny to refer to me as weak, but I can tell you right now that I will definitely show Natsu how much of a threat I can be to him in a battle!" Lucy responded to Sting with confidence in her voice and strong sense of ambition in her cocoa brown eyes.

Sting could only smile at how much more emotionally strong Lucy had become, ever since the first job they did back in the sewers of Castelia Town, and her confidence and strength in herself had really been improving. In fact, when she had been sparring with Sting after the games were held on the first two days, their battles ended in a draw both times. Lucy had been getting physically stronger as well, most likely because of the power of her spell book, and all of her new strength was also improving the power of her Celestial Spirits as well.

Lucy got off of Sting, and she got out of the bed to stand up and stretch her body out. She felt her muscles pop and relax, before proceeding to walk over to the brown bureau in the room to get her pink spell book and pick out some cute clothes. She had now swapped rooms with Rogue, since Lucy had wanted to be closer to Sting, and she was very happy that Rogue agreed to the swap without any debate. Calm people like him and Yukino certainly got along fine, so there was nothing to worry about.

She had now put on a red T-shirt with a pink miniskirt to match, and Lucy also put on some black flat shoes as well. She always had a tendency to look her best in almost any outfit, but stylish clothes were not complete without a sweet smell to greatly go with them. Lucy had secretly put away the black bottle of perfume in the left pocket of her pink miniskirt last night, wanting to save its supposed power for when it would be needed by her, and she smiled happily at the thought of using this new gift that Karen had given her.

Sting had now gotten his usual clothes on, and he narrowed his eyes while looking at the alarm clock in the room that he now shared with Lucy. The Grand Magic Games started at 9:40 in the morning today, and it was now 8:50 in the morning. He smirked at the amount of time that him and Lucy had, prompting him to challenge her to another race to the Domus Flau. He kissed her lips softly, kissing them with passionate ease to get her psyched up, and Sting ran out of the room with a smile on his face. Lucy ran after him, not caring about the race, but to return that nice kiss.

* * *

**15 minutes later...**

After getting some bags of chocolate donut holes and mochaccinos to drink for breakfast, Sting and Lucy were on their way to the entrance of the Domus Flau. Feeling the warmth from the shining sun, the blonde girl had a poised smirk on her face. Even as she walking towards the day that could take any kind of turn, Lucy still had the belief that a sunrise foreshadowed great things to come her way. Would she be correct about this belief, and would Sting's prediction about the match-up also be correct?

As they made their way towards the entrance, someone quickly appeared in front of them with an awesome-looking black camera that had a great lens and other features like zooming in on things or changing the colors of things in the photos before they would be taken. Upon seeing her outfit and her long blondish hair that looked strangely familiar, Lucy got a much better look at the person and gasped in shock when she was able to recognize exactly who they were. Sting also looked surprised to see this woman, too.

It was Hikari, the villain who had a specialty for Lightning Magic, and Sting had remembered how she had trapped all of those people in her electricity for her training. They had fought her in the amusement park, getting on her nerves with Lucy's spells of Fire Magic, and Sting's strategy back then had really worked for the two Sabertooth mages. Sting narrowed his blue eyes while sternly glaring at Hikari, ready to strike her if she was going to use electricity from that camera to charge up one of her attacks.

However, Hikari giggled at the sight of both Sting and Lucy looking ready to try and strike her down. She smiled nicely while speaking in a calm manner, assuring them that she was not in a life of crime anymore, and that she had been working as a photographer for Sorcerer Magazine. This job had actually paid more money than what Hikari could get by using electricity on a slot machine to make all of its jewels come out for her, and all that she had to do was simply take photos of anyone who wanted their picture taken.

To make things even weirder, Hikari had let Sting and Lucy know that she was going to be the guest judge for the fourth day of the Grand Magic Games. Sting widened his eyes in shock, wondering how a former criminal got her name on the list of guest judges, not even knowing that Hikari had secretly put Rabian in a sphere of electricity when he was directing a scene in a theater of Nimbasa Town. Everyone thought that Hikari had been some new actress on the scene, but she just wanted a lighter reputation to match her name's meaning.

Lucy nicely told Hikari to take some pictures of her and Sting, prompting the blonde woman to smile confidently while she told the two mages to smile for the camera. As Hikari got to see Sting and Lucy kiss, do victory poses, make funny faces, and look flirtatious, she flashed the camera while turning it at different angles to get the best shots of the mages. Sting certainly had the confidence like a model to be in Wizard Magazine while Lucy had the beauty to become Miss Fiore. After a few more pictures were taken, the happy couple went on their way towards the arena and also knew they were on their way to winning.

* * *

**10 minutes later…**

Sting and Lucy made it to Sabertooth's booth where their teammates had been waiting for them, and they also looked over at the booths where the other teams were located. While Team Quatro Cerberus looked saddened about their losing streak happening once again, Team Sweet Melancholy looked pretty content about the fact that they had been keeping fourth place for a while now. Karen did not even seem to care about winning the trophy, by the way she was so fixated on Lucy, but seeing that new power would be like the victory of having a plan come to fruition.

Her shadowy pawns were actually not there to just take up filler battles, but they would eventually find out what Karen needed to know about the sweet blonde maiden. Lucy still had unreadable spells in each type of magic, so she was not exactly someone to be crazily excited over. Her level of power had been increasing to higher levels, reaching a bit farther each time, and Karen smiled with confidence in her silvery-blue eyes while she knew that the seventh seal on the spell book would soon be broken.

Karen had not even told Lucy about the story behind the book, not wanting her to have a great shock come at her with so much, and the woman with silvery-blue hair knew that Lucy was still developing nicely. From seeing her spells yesterday, it looked like Lucy was beginning to understand how much power she was truly wielding. That level of power from her fourth spell of Heavenly Body Magic was enough to certainly rival Jellal, if she ever had to fight him, but the next section of spells would certainly be a real eye-opener.

Lucy shifted her attention from Team Sweet Melancholy to the booths where both of the Fairy Tail teams were located, seeing her main rivals for the day, and Natsu continued to look pretty scared of Erza. She had threatened him to not forfeit anymore challenges for the duration of the Grand Magic Games, or else he would receive a pretty severe punishment. Natsu had truly wanted to do his best this year, but he was held down by the deal that he had made with Lisanna. If he continued to break it, then he would be broken.

Natsu had definitely been breaking the deal that he had with Lisanna, even though her team had second place while his team was in third place, and he had only thrown one challenge so far. He had either not been doing the events, or other people had been chosen to fight. However, as much as he wanted to earn Lisanna's trust back, Natsu also looked pretty glum while knowing he could not get that past Erza. She certainly would not let that slide, if Natsu was going to throw challenges on purpose.

He had been trying to worm his way out of the deal, telling Lisanna that he would rather get disqualified instead of throwing challenges, and it had not been working at all. She was going to hold him to deal until it ended, and Natsu could not say a thing that would help him get out of it. He even promised to be nicer to Lisanna, but she had not believed that his words had any truth to them whatsoever. After all, it would be hard to gain the trust of the white-haired mage since Natsu had treated her like a tool.

Lucy had looked in her pink spell book to see that the other four spells of Heavenly Body Magic had been written, meaning that they were ready to be used, and she smiled at the thought of getting to try them out in the upcoming tag-team battle. Of course, she first had to see if she would even get to be in it. Lucy had really wanted to show off her teamwork with Sting in the tag-team battle, knowing that she could do a good job with him at her side, and they would definitely win that battle.

However, before the battles could even transpire, everyone would have to get through the event first. What kind of event would be, and how exactly would it go down? Lucy remembered yesterday how she had almost gotten eighth place in the card game event that required pure luck, and Karen's cheating ways were the only thing that kept her from losing. She had not even properly thanked her new ally for what she had done, making a risky move like that to help Lucy, and the blonde girl saw Karen as a true friend now.

* * *

"Welcome to day four of the Grand Magic Games, ladies, gentlemen, boys, and girls! So far, Sabertooth is keeping the lead, but the Fairy Tail teams are right behind them with Sweet Melancholy following them! Can anyone rattle the standings in the tag-team battles and the event today? Will Sabertooth keep this consistent streak of good fortune? Let's see what happens!" Chapati shouted while having a smile on his face, knowing one of today's battles would be the best in the history of the Grand Magic Games.

Everyone looked curious as to what the event would be, since the last three had been pretty thrilling. What was going to happen? Would it be like the Naval Battle, or would something else transpire and be just as exciting to watch? Either way, the event would probably test the physical and mental abilities of the participants. Sting wanted to handlebthis event, thinking that it would make for yesterday's disappointment of him not getting the chance to battle, but he received a kiss on the cheek from Lucy while kindly telling him that he just needed to have some patience.

Chapati immediately stated that the event for the fourth day would be known as "Treasure Master", The game, as weird as it sounded, would be mentally and physically challenging. The game involved turning the sandy battlefield of the Domus Flau into a place of treasure, filling it with many treasure chests, and only eight of them had a lot of golden jewels inside of them. Each participant would be given one key to help them, but they could only use it on one treasure chest. If they guessed wrong, they'd get eliminated from the event.

The competitors could also eliminate each other by using any kind of magic to attack each other, since spells could also be used to open chests without any drawbacks. However, someone would be eliminated from the event after being attacked three times. This event was basically a mental, physical, and luck-based challenge all put into one bigger challenge. Someone could also get eliminated if they happened to run out of magical power, too, which really set the difficulty of this event to a pretty high level. Who would step forward?

"I can totally rock at this event, guys! Leave it to me, and I'll get all the bags of gold before anyone else gets to them! Things like gold, silver, rubies, sapphires, emeralds, diamonds, and pearls are pretty shiny like light. Since that works with my magic, I'm going to get them all. I'll make Sabertooth totally rich." Sting told everyone in Sabertooth's booth in a confident manner, totally ready to do his best in this event, and he had blinked his charming blue eyes at Lucy in an attempt to get her to go along with his idea.

Much to his surprise, however, Orga spoke up about competing in this event. He was grinning with a pretty positive attitude about this, stating how he would turn the other competitors into piles of black lightning chili, and the Lightning God Slayer was also confident that his type of magic could easily beat anyone else's in a contest like this. After all, did he really need to use a key when his Lightning God's Charged Particle Cannon could easily destroy every single treasure chest on the battlefield in a swift manner?

Orga assured his team that everything would be fine, and he jumped down on to the battlefield while volunteering for Team Sabertooth. The fact that he was competing made Laxus Dreyar from Team Fairy Tail A volunteer to do something like this, knowing full well that he could easily take out the other competitors and take advantage of any electrically-charged treasure chests, but Erza had decided to do it in his place because she wanted him to keep a close eye on Natsu. She knew that something was up, but she could not get him to spit it out. Plus, with her many swords, Erza could easily win.

Lisanna volunteered once again for Team Fairy Tail B, knowing fully well how she had done such a good job yesterday, and Mira saw no problem with it. As the younger Strauss sister went down to the sandy battlefield, she glared at Natsu once again for what he had done. He certainly was not following the agreement that they had made, making her really start to despise him, but then she saw something interesting. Natsu was giving her a happy smile, almost like he was glad to not be with her, and that just made her feel annoyed by him. His conflicting emotions, combined with the opposing wishes of Erza and Lisanna, were definitely making his love life become complicated.

Karen had made a blue-haired girl named Mable do this event for Team Sweet Melancholy, having a deceptive smirk on her face while knowing that cheating would be involved once again, and the strange woman knew that no one really paid much attention to small shadows. Mable had shoulder-length blue hair, cerulean blue eyes, and she also wore a light blue T-shirt while matching it with a pair of Daisy Dukes. She also wore some dark blue flat shoes as well, and they went well with the rest of her outfit.

Team Lamia Scale had chosen Yuka Suzuki to participate for them, since he could easily open each treasure chest by sealing away the magic that was on each one of them, and he grinned with overconfidence while going out on to the battlefield. Jenny Realight from Team Blue Pegasus knew that she could transform numerous duplicates of the same key into her hands by using her Transformation Magic, and sneaky tricks like that would surprisingly be permitted in this event that involved probability.

Kagura strangely stepped forward for Team Mermaid Heel, really feeling like she had to do this for her team to get some points, and the other girls allowed her to try and win for them. She also wanted to see how powerful Erza would be in their rematch, even if it could not wait until the final day of the Grand Magic Games. Team Quatro Cerberus selected Rocker to try and get them a win that they desperately needed, and his drilling skills could prove to be useful on any treasure chests that weren't infused with magic.

When all of the competitors were out on the field, Mato had a happy smile on his face while he commanded the field to open once again. The sandy ground changed into a tiled white floor while small black chests began to be magically created, each chest being only a few inches apart from another, and everyone looked surprised to find golden keys appearing in their hands. The keys were only good for one try, so getting careless in a situation like this would be a pretty bad idea. Who would find the treasure first?

As a gong was struck for the event to begin, Mable smirked a bit while lifting up the blue hair that had covered her left eye. This eye was surprisingly a lighter shade of blue, not a normal hue of blue like her right eye, and she had kept it concealed because of its very impressive ability. Mable looked at Rocker from Team Quatro Cerberus for a few seconds, making him look curious as to why she stared directly at him, and she winked with her light blue eye. It began to glow, similar to when Lucy used Dark Optica, and a light blue beam was shot out from Mable's left eye. The beam hit Rocker, having high-powered damage like a laser, and it also stunned him. She was about to hit him again, but Karen silently and motionlessly manipulated the shadow of a nearby treasure chest to swallow up Rocker.

Team Quatro Cerberus looked stunned at this, seeing Rocker now back in their booth, and they received zero points once again for coming in last place. Mable had done the same thing to Kagura, who tried to kick Erza in her left side while she tried to open a treasure chest, and the purple-haired woman was sent flying backwards against a wall. Mabel's beams did not just have stunning properties, however, since this beam had made a cold and icy wind blow Kagura all the way back to her team's booth. Team Mermaid Heel only received one point once again, making Kagura wonder about the blue-haired girl from Team Sweet Melancholy.

With Kagura now out of the event, Erza had quickly used this chance to oust Jenny Realight from the game by simply giving her three soft hits on the head. Anyone who was hit three times would be eliminated from the event, and Jenny got sixth place. Team Blue Pegasus got only two points once again, much to their frustration, but Hibiki comically hugged Jenny while being glad that she had not been targeted by Mable's strange beams that could paralyze a person or blow them away while dealing some serious damage.

Yuka had been using his Wave Magic on every treasure chest on the battlefield, sealing away all the different kinds of magic that would serve as booby traps, but he had not managed to find any of the chests that were filled with the golden jewels. Taking a risk, he looked stern while using his golden key on the treasure chest in front of him. The key fit perfectly into the keyhole, opening the treasure chest, but Yuka did not find gold. Instead, he received a harsh punch to the face by a springy boxing glove. He was sent all the way back to his team's booth, earning only three points for Team Lamia Scale, and Ooba spun around in frustration.

Wanting some payback on Natsu for breaking the terms of their deal like a rebellious idiot who would not pay for his mistakes, as she had also realized that her cards had also been switched in yesterday's event to thankfully make her get first place, Lisanna gave some silent hand signals to Mable while having a sly grin on her face. Mable winked with her light blue eye in response, sending a laser beam towards Erza, but the scarlet-haired mage saw the attack coming. She dodged the first laser beam, only to have Mable fire another one that melted Erza's golden key like it had acidic properties this time, and the disintegration of a key was also a cause for being out of the event. No key, no truly fair chance.

While Erza had gotten only four points for Team Fairy Tail A, she narrowed her brown eyes at the sight of Lisanna giggling about something. Erza knew that both teams from the same guild were also competing against each other, but Lisanna seemed to have some ulterior motive that Erza did not know about. Lisanna was able to fit her key into a keyhole, and she looked a bit content with the fact that she found a can of Coca-Cola and a bag of potato chips inside of it. Since she had used the key and had not found the gold, Lisanna gained six points for Team Fairy Tail B.

Orga and Mable were now the only ones left in the game, and the Lightning God Slayer looked very puzzled while he could not even decide on which treasure chest to choose first. He was at the third row out of five, each row having eight treasure chests in it, and only one had not been opened by a golden key or by magic. He looked a bit nervous while thinking about whether or not to open it, and Orga looked up at the other members of Team Sabertooth. Lucy and Sting were cheering alongside Lector, Frosch, Happy, Cala, and Wendy. All of them wanted him to open it, so he gulped nervously and went for it.

As the green-haired male turned his key in the keyhole to open up the treasure chest, he gasped in shock at the sight of Mable happily laughing while she had opened up another treasure chest. She was oddly enough being shocked by electrical eels that had been in a treasure chest that was filled with water, giving her second place in this event, and Orga opened up his treasure chest to find the golden jewels. He looked triumphant while beginning to sing about the many golden dollar bills, and he would spend them on many things. Team Sabertooth received ten points, and Team Sweet Melancholy earned eight points in the event.

Since the event was now over, the tiled floor and the treasure chests vanished while the battlefield turned back to being sandy with the ground having a brown color. While the crowd was cheering for Orga, even though he had won by doing almost nothing and not getting involved with the quarrels of the others, Rogue and the other mages in Sabertooth's booth were waiting for the tag-team battles to begin. Lucy and Sting both looked eager to find out if fate would smile on them today, giving them what they wanted.

* * *

**15 minutes later…**

The tag-team battles of day four had finally come around, with Bacchus & Nobarly from Quatro Cerberus going up against Kagura & Arania from Mermaid Heel. Kagura defeated both of the males with one slash of her unsheathed sword, possibly causing an airwave to strike them. Mermaid Heel won the match, and now had 24 points while Quatro Cerberus had zero points. Even though Mermaid Heel now had their second victory in the Grand Magic Games, it still was not enough to really reach up to Kagura's high expectations of her team.

* * *

The second battle had pitted Eve Tearm and Ren Akatsuki from Team Blue Pegasus up against Lyon Vastia and Chelia Blendy from Team Lamia Scale The match had started off with Ren trying to use Aerial Phose to send Lyon into the air for wind to attack him, but Chelia had just inhaled Ren's attack because she was a Sky God Slayer. Chelia managed to overpower Ren with Sky God's Boreas, effectively knocking him out with the black winds, and Lyon had struck Eve head-on with some of his ice eagles. Team Lamia Scale won the match, earning ten more points.

* * *

The third battle put Mable and Karen from Team Sweet Melancholy up against Mirajane Strauss and Cana Alberona from Team Fairy Tail B. Mirajane had started off the match by going into her normal Satan Soul Take-Over, and she flew towards Karen at high speeds to deliver a punch to the face of the woman with silvery-blue hair. Karen surprisingly went into the shadows to quickly evade the attack, and Mable winked at Mira with her light blue eye to make a laser beam emerge from it. The laser beam did not hurt Mira, but it nullified her magic while also making her pass out. Karen quickly used her shadowy abilities to make Cana's own shadow grab her, and it threw the card mage out of the Domus Flau. Team Sweet Melancholy won the match, earning ten more points.

Chapati announced with a thrilled expression while he looked at the names for the final match of the day, "This last match is sure to get all the couples in the stadium excited! You think Lacrima Vision screens are only in the arena, but they aren't! We've seen one of these duos making out around town while the other duo is pretty dysfunctional, and this is sure to be a good match! Just like last year, it's Fairy Tail versus Sabertooth! The best guild in Fiore once again, versus the guild who was the greatest last year! The match is Natsu and Erza versus Sting and Lucy!"

Upon hearing their names be announced, along with the names of their opponents, Lucy and Sting happily smiled at each other while also looking determined to win. Lucy had been reading the new spells of Heavenly Body Magic, so she easily memorized them all well enough to test them out in this battle and she took her spell book with her. After all, if one type of magic ran out, another type could end up being pretty useful against someone who was as powerful as the mighty knight known as Erza Scarlet.

This battle meant everything to Lucy, and the time had finally arrived. Would she able to gain a victory for her guild of the present and future, and defeat the dense idiot from her past? Could she also manage to defeat his scarlet-haired companion, the same person who could rival Kagura in terms of swordsmanship? Had she finally become a stronger person, the exact opposite of her past self? She walked down the dark hallway with Sting while holding his right hand in her left hand, and the light leading into the battlefield came closer into view.

"_All right, this is it! This is finally the moment where Sting and I show off our chemistry, our bond, the results of all our training, and we'll teach Natsu and Lisanna a lesson or two while we're at it!"_ She thought while fierceness found its way into her cocoa brown eyes and light began to shine on her beautiful blonde hair. When everyone saw the four mages come out on to the battlefield, roars and cheers shook the stadium. Lisanna and Cana were cheering for Sabertooth, being Lucy's friends and disliking Natsu, despite the fact that they were in Fairy Tail.

Sting and Lucy could only harshly glare at Natsu and Erza, obviously having their motives for wanting to win this match. They made eye contact with each other for a few seconds, having the loving bond to communicate fast and effectively form a beginning strategy. The wind blew through the stadium, as everyone could feel the sudden tension in the air. Clearly, these two teams had some conflicts that needed to be resolved in some way. Lucy and Erza were definitely friends, but that did not mean that they would go easy on each other.

"You're about to lose again, Sting." Natsu said coldly, as he glared back at the white dragon slayer.

"It looks like you now wield a pink book of spells, Lucy. I don't know what kind of techniques you have now, but come at me seriously with everything you have." Erza told her friend in a calm manner, smiling confidently while wanting to see Lucy give it her all in a fight like this.

When Mato allowed the match to begin, the Fairy Tail mages were astounded to see that the Sabertooth duo had suddenly vanished from the spots where they had been standing. Natsu and Erza both widened their eyes in shock, as Sting and Lucy immediately appeared in front of them and both started off the match with punches to their opponents' faces. Natsu and Erza were sent sliding backwards, the latter quickly requipping into her Black Wing Armor with a sword in each hand, and the scarlet-haired mage decided to really get this battle started.

She flew down towards Lucy, attempting to strike her with powerful attacks and confound the blonde mage with her impressive speed, but Lucy smiled at the sight of this. She quickly used her non-spell ability of Earth Magic, getting some sand in her right hand before turning it into a solid rock, and then she followed up with her non-spell ability of Heavenly Body Magic. She threw the rock high into the air where it became surrounded by a pink aura, and the rock quickly came down in the form of a meteorite! It struck the spot where Erza had once stood, creating a pink blast of Heavenly Body Magic, and the crowd looked surprised.

Erza wondered what had happened, realizing that Lucy's meteorite missed its intended target by about two-hundred feet, and she could see that the aftermath of that blast had simply made a crater appear in the sand. While Erza was caught off guard in that one second, Lucy unleashed her fifth spell of Heavenly Body Magic. It was known as Heavenly Sphere, and it simply made a pink sphere appear in the palm of her right hand. Lucy threw it towards Erza, missing her by a few inches, but that was actually Lucy's intention.

Another pink blast of Heavenly Body Magic transpired, this time in midair, and Erza screamed in pain while she was taking damage from the spell destroying the space around it. She was in its radius, taking damage from the attack, and Erza flew down to the ground while requipping into her Heaven's Wheel Armor. She looked at her two swords, seeing that Lucy's spell of distorting space had twisted up her swords so much, and the scarlet-haired mage requipped those out for two new ones that looked much heavier with the power to slash through iron.

She charged at Lucy, seeing that distance attacks were possibly not her specialty at all, but Natsu and Sting got in the way while delivering punches of fire and light to each other's faces. Erza couldn't stop in time, and she had almost stabbed Sting with one of her swords. Not seeing that as a total accident, Lucy narrowed her cocoa brown eyes at her scarlet-haired friend while she called upon the sixth spell. It was known as Heavenly Wave, and this spell caused Lucy to shoot out a pink heart-shaped beam of energy from her mouth. It grew larger with distance, since she had leaped away from the situation, and Sting had gotten out of the way of Lucy's attack while he pulled Natsu into its path. The fire dragon slayer was struck directly, being slammed into Erza, and they were both slammed against the wall while a large pink blast of energy occurred once again.

However, Lucy and Sting both looked serious while knowing that their opponents were durable. Natsu only had a few minor bruises, and Erza had requipped into her Purgatory Armor to defend against Lucy's strong attack. Natsu and Erza both looked at each other while nodding, quickly moving to take their opponents on alone, and Natsu decided to attack Lucy this time. He fiercely glared at her while swinging punches at her with flames engulfing his fists, and Natsu looked even more pissed off by the fact that Lucy was dodging each of his moves with ease. She could easily read his movements, knowing that his style of attack was far too direct, and Lucy delivered a kick to his face while sneakily picking up some sand in her right hand.

She slammed it all into Natsu's eyes and poked them a few times, making him scream in pain while the audience laughed at such a comical trick, and Lucy read the seventh spell in the pink book. It was known as Cosmic Shield, and this spell was perfect. Natsu angrily growled in frustration, seeing that close-range attacks would not work on the blonde mage, and he leaped back before jumping high into the skies above the Domus Flau. He unleashed Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame. He created a large fireball in his hands, making it grow large enough before throwing it down at Lucy, but she smiled at the sight of her large star-shaped shield floating into the air to absorb the impact of the fireball while Natsu came back down to the ground.

The fireball was reflected back into outer space in the form of a large pink beam of Heavenly Body Magic, and it quickly exploded while its side effect was coming down on the battlefield in the form of many meteors. Cosmic Shield could reflect projectiles back at anything, and the side effect of this spell turned the projectiles into pink meteor-shaped projectiles of Heavenly Body Magic. They came down on the battlefield, making numerous pink explosions occur, and one meteor even sent Erza and Sting flying away from each other while they had been locked in hand-to-hand combat. The crowd gasped in awe, seeing this as a pretty real battle going on here.

"Well, look what we have here. It looks like the shitty little weak-ass loser can actually do something. Those spells of yours sure know how to think outside the box, Lucy, but all of that smart creativity won't help you now!" Natsu shouted at her while looking furious, the smoke clearing up quickly to reveal that he had very bruised up by that powerful barrage of meteors, but he kept putting his pride and arrogant attitude over the fact that her creativity with those spells was what had helped her become stronger.

Natsu looked over at Sting to see that Erza kept him occupied while requipping into her Black Wing Armor again while he unleashed his White Dragon's Roar into the air to strike her down while she was flying around, and the fire dragon slayer saw this as the perfect chance to try and strike Lucy with his Fire Dragon's Roar. He unleashed a large vortex of fire from his mouth, attempting to burn Lucy to a crisp, but she used her non-spell ability of Fire Magic to inhale all of his flames to replenish most of her magical power. Wow, now wasn't that a real slap in the face to him once again?

Lucy responded sternly, really hating the fact that Natsu was underestimating her once again, "It seems that you and your stupid brain just can't realize that I'm not the same girl that can be pushed around, Natsu. I am much stronger than I was in Fairy Tail, and you're about to go down! Prepare to see another one of my new moves, since it will shut you up! I call upon thee, the eighth spell of Heavenly Body Magic, Spacial Wrath!"

This spell caused the seven clouds in the blue sky to become pink, and they unleashed eight pink beams that came down in a curved trajectory to strike their target. The beams were spiraling at high speeds while moving fast to strike their target, and this spell gave Lucy an interesting ability. Similar to Dark Optica, this move made her brown eyes become light pink while they glowed with power. She could now distort or change the space around her with a single blink of her eyes, and something had told her to not end this with Natsu so soon. She blinked her pink eyes once, making Erza switch places with him, and she gasped in shock while the pink beams of Heavenly Body Magic struck her directly.

A massive pink blast of spacial energy filled the Domus Flau, its power only concentrated on the center where Erza was located, and Sting used this moment to eat the light from Lucy's blast. He simply opened his mouth to consume it, smiling about how it tasted so good, and the light quickly faded away to show everyone in the Domus Flau that Erza had managed to survive by requipping into her Adamantine Armor at the last second. She stood in an extremely large crater, wincing in pain from the spacial distortion breaking her armor apart, and the scarlet-haired mage only had enough power left to requip back into her Heart Kreuz Armor.

From here on out, Natsu would have to fight by himself. Erza knew that none of her other armors or swords could stand up to the power of that eighth spell, and she wondered if Lucy really had been on a whole new level. While the blonde mage panted heavily, seeming exhausted from using that last attack, she pulled out the bottle of black perfume from the left pocket of her pink miniskirt to make herself smell good like the sweet smell of having a pretty good victory over Natsu. As she sprayed it on herself, however, Lucy's thoughts of an easy victory were enough to tempt fate.

Natsu would not accept a defeat against someone who he thought was really weak, and the fire dragon slayer slapped the bottle of black perfume into the air. He did the same with Lucy's pink spell book, and something began to happen. The black liquid poured on to a few blank pages in the book, seemingly the eighth section, and the book began to become surrounded by an ominous black cloud of smoke. The shadows of everyone and everything in the arena were entering into it, and the book itself began to have black beams of light glowing from the new spells that had been unlocked.

Karen was up in the stands, shaking with excitement from the fact that the seventh seal had finally been broken, and she grinned in pure delight from what was about to happen. She noticed that Natsu had his left hand on Lucy's neck while he slammed her against the wall, attempting to make the blonde mage surrender by choking her, but the fire dragon slayer released his grip when the black smoke began to enter his opponent's ears, nose, and mouth. The book floated into her hands, having now turned onyx black, and Lucy could feel something pulsating from inside her.

She looked shocked while this feeling pulsated inside her once, making both Natsu and Sting wonder what was wrong with her, and the large pulsations happened two more times. Lucy stayed frozen in place for a while, almost like she had lost consciousness when Darcy would take over, and her teammates in the Sabertooth guild were wondering why she began to suddenly giggle a bit. She had a very disturbing smirk on her face while her blonde hair was now covering her cocoa brown eyes, and Sting wondered what was wrong with her.

"Salamander, what the hell did you do?!" He angrily asked while activating White Drive, preparing to use Holy Nova if Natsu had messed up Lucy's brain.

Natsu responded defensively while turning around to shout at his rival, "I didn't do anything! Lucy's just giggling like something seems to be funny. It better not be me, or she's going down!"

Lucy responded in a dark manner, as a black aura began to engulf her body, "At last... At long last, I am revived."

Natsu stepped back a few feet while looking curious, wondering what exactly was she talking about, and he didn't even notice that the booth of Team Sweet Melancholy was right behind him. Karen kept on shivering excitedly at what she was seeing, and the smile on her face could only mean one important thing. With the final seal broken, her master had finally been summoned from the book. Natsu had indirectly also caused the master's revival by spilling the shadowy liquid on to the book, unleashing what was actually the master's darkest set of spells for this next half of the fight, and she was now alive once again without her magic being sealed away in the book.

As the black aura faded from being around the body of Lucy, Sting and Natsu were both shocked to see what had happened to her. She had been transformed into a slender young woman with black hair and red highlights at the roots and ends, pale skin and blood red eyes. She wore a black and red dress with red sleeves draping down her shoulders, the dress having both legs showing, and she had a red sash around her waist. She had black ankle shoes with red tints, red and black fingerless gloves that end at the elbow, and a red bat necklace. Her make-up consisted of no eyeshadow with red and black lipstick. She also had red nails, too.

Sting looked puzzled, wondering who exactly this woman was, and he knew that the book had not given any Transformation Magic to Lucy. She now had fanged teeth, something that Sting had never seen before, but the judges still saw this as a transformation of some kind. The mysterious woman looked at her hands and down at her legs, almost like she wanted to see if they were truly real, and she let out a sigh of satisfaction from seeing that her black hair with red highlights was real as well. Who was this woman?

She told Sting in a dark tone of voice, sounding completely different from Lucy like she was in her twenties or something, "You really shouldn't be staring awkwardly at a woman, you know. It's rather impolite, which is ironic since that does not suit someone like myself. My name is now Thorn Heartfilia, and I am finally awake. If you want to win this match, then let me show you how it is done. You take far too long and toy around, sweetie. It's better to destroy pawns after you play around with them, you know."

The white dragon slayer asked curiously, looking a bit shocked at what was happening here, "Lucy... What's happened to you?"

She responded while smirking evilly, having strength entering her blood red eyes, "I'm all right, Sting. It's just the power flowing through me, and I've never felt better."

* * *

**(Note: This half of the battle is violent.)**

Natsu shouted at them while looking impatient, knowing that this match had a time limit of thirty minutes, "We don't have all day to fight, you know! Are you going to stand there and talk just because Lucy has changed into some new girl, or are you going to fight? Come on, already! You weaklings are really beginning to piss me off, and I'm fired up for this!"

Hearing him call her a weakling certainly made Thorn turn around to slowly face the fire dragon slayer, and she had heard all about what he had done to Lucy while she was being sealed away in the book. It was only natural to return the favor to a worthy chess piece that had importance, and Thorn was going to show Lucy how to really get revenge. She looked at the black spell book to see the eighth language written in black text, and the unreadable spells were in white text. Thorn simply focused her hatred on the book, and it began to glow with black beams of light coming from the dark words.

The first spell was known as Shadow Beam, and it simply allowed Thorn to fire a large black beam of Shadow Demon Magic from her left hand. This attack struck Natsu quickly, slamming him against the wall, and it hit him with tremendous force. Some shadows stretched out from the rubble of the wall, creating miniature black blasts of energy, and they left Natsu immobilized while a shadow began to spread out around him. He couldn't move at all, and those miniature blasts were actually doing massive damage with each one that occurred to boost its power like in a chain.

Sting turned to where Lucy a.k.a. Thorn had been standing, but she was gone. His blue eyes looked shocked to see her appear in front of Natsu, seemingly moving at extremely high speeds, and the black-haired woman had silently called upon a spell known as Shadow Speed. He could see Natsu trying to hit her with flames now surrounding his fists, but she evaded all of his attacks by using Shadow Speed to confound him. He couldn't even smell where she was, since Thorn did not smell like Lucy at all.

She maliciously giggled while activating the next spell, Shadow Smoke, and this spell had allowed her to exhale smoke from her mouth. It wasn't ordinary smoke, though, and the attack had surprisingly been directed at Erza. The scarlet-haired mage still had not recovered yet from the effects of Spacial Wrath, only having enough magical power to try and crawl away, but the black smoke engulfed her while it made large black explosions occur. Erza was screaming in pain from feeling the power of this attack, and it had left her skin looking pretty charred.

The scarlet-haired mage could not move at all, and she let out another cry of pain from the fourth spell that Thorn had activated while she moved around so quickly. It was known as Dark Misfortune, and it caused shadows to come from underground. Erza looked pretty scared of what was about to happen, and the shadows grew spikes while slamming themselves down on her body with vicious amounts of power. They even turned into drills that pierced through her skin, making her scream in pure terror from the pain that caused her to bleed. Erza quickly felt herself losing consciousness, unable to even move now, and she blacked out while breathing painfully.

Natsu had tried to attack Thorn with a simple fiery punch from his left fist while she stood over the unconscious body of Erza Scarlet, only for the black-haired woman to vanish into the shadows before she appeared 100 feet away from him. She used a spell known as Shadowy Flash, and it caused a black sphere to appear in front of Natsu. It flashed a blinding white light, making his shadow appear, and the sphere was pulling him inward by making a shadowy black hand grab his shadow. He was pulled into the sphere, and it exploded into a massive blast of black energy. Black smoke filled the battlefield, and Sting looked pretty scared about what was going on here.

He could sense that Lucy's magical power had completely changed, feeling it to be much darker, and he heard Thorn giggle evilly while she inhaled all of the black smoke to give herself some more power. She used her sixth spell, Shadow Snatch, and it made a shadowy hand with supposedly long feminine nails pass right through Natsu. It appeared to do nothing at first, but the shadow was actually absorbing half of his magical power. It also sealed his power away in the shadows for a while, turning him into nothing more than a harmless teenager.

Thorn then proceeded to use her seventh spell, Shadow Punch, and it caused her fists to be surrounded by a black aura of malice. She stretched her fists out towards Natsu, confusing him while he didn't see the shadows of her fists extending towards him. This attack would cause two black blasts of shadows to occur, if they hit him, but Thorn had a better idea. She made her shadowy fists turn into claws that stretched far to grab Natsu's arms from behind, and she showed Lucy how to really get revenge by evilly grinning as she instructed her shadows to break Natsu's arms before breaking every bone that he had in each arm as well.

The fire dragon slayer was screaming in pure agony while this was going on, and even the audience looked horrified to see what was happening. One mother even covered her daughter's eyes while she was still cheering for Sabertooth to win, but the person who was the most surprised had to be Sting. He had never seen Lucy get like this before, not even in the fiercest fights that they ever had against any previous villains or monsters, and he looked completely shocked to see her transformed into someone who was so vicious. She even threw Natsu down to the ground, before devilishly giggling as she proceeded to use her final spell.

It was known as Shadow's Dark Light, and this spell caused Thorn to stretch out the shadows of everyone while honing them all in on Natsu to create what would be a pretty massive explosion that could presumbly kill everybody in the Domus Flau. Not wanting anything bad like that to end up happening, especially when he knew very well that this was not what Lucy had wanted to do in her fated battle against Natsu, Sting knew that he had to try and get his girlfriend back to her normal self that just wanted to prove herself against her ex-boyfriend instead of killing him.

Sting exclaimed loudly as he saw Thorn chanting some words in the language of the shadows while charging up this move to a deadly level of power that could annihilate anything in its path, "No! Stop it, please! Don't do it!"

He ran towards her from behind, putting his arms around her waist while crying and looking terrified because of Thorn's dark power being so frightening, ""You're my best friend, my lover, my best training partner, and you mean everything to me! I don't want you to become a murderer! Taking Natsu's life won't allow you to prove anything to him, and it would just make you look like a cold-blooded killer! Lucy, I'm here for you. I know that I don't protect you as often as I should, but you're the best girlfriend that I've ever had. You don't want to be so bent on getting power, because love is more important. You're important to me, and you won this fight. There's no need to go any further, since the most important thing in a battle is knowing when to stop."

Thorn slowly turned around to face him, malice in her blood red eyes while locking them with his tearful blue ones, and she suddenly vanished in a puff of black smoke while leaving Lucy in Sting's arms. The smoke entered the book, which had now turned back to being pink because of Sting's wishes reaching Lucy's heart, and things grew quiet for a few more moments. The entire audience, the competitors, and the judges were completely silent. The only sounds that could be heard were from Natsu, who then collapsed because of the trauma being over. Lucy slowly opened her brown eyes to see Sting looking down at her with a smile, and she rubbed her head.

""That was… Chilling, frightening, moving, thrilling, exciting, wicked, malicious, amazing, cool, hot, insanely evil, devilish, wild, and more! Don't just stand there shuddering with your jaws dropped, people! Sabertooth wins the match, and they get ten more points! Let's have a big applause for the dragon slayer, and his demon girlfriend! That fight was awesome!" Hikari shouted from the judges' booth with a pleased smile on her face, speaking for the other two judges that still looked utterly shocked.

Lucy blushed a light shade of pink while her left hand touched Sting's cheek to make sure that this was not a dream, and she smiled happily while feeling his soft skin. He put Lucy down, now that she was able to stand up on her own two feet, and she looked somewhat scared while shuddering a bit from the coldness of the power that she had unleashed. When Thorn took control, Lucy had been lost in the darkness of her heart. All she kept seeing was her vicious thoughts, along with hearing the horrible screams from outside, and Sting had saved her when he called out to her.

"You saved me from that dark power, Sting. I'm still afraid of the book sometimes, and I understand if it freaks you out enough to leave me.." Lucy told him while looking disappointed in herself at what she had done mainly to Erza, as Chelia and Wendy both came down from their booths to heal the scarlet-haired woman's wounds and restore her blood.

Sting replied confidently while smiling a bit, trying to lighten up the atmosphere, "Are you kidding me, Lucy? I'd never leave you because of some spells that you have. They don't make you who you are are, but you make them based on what you are. I guess you just surprised me and Natsu with all of that power you've got. There's no reason to fear it because I'll help you control it. Trust in me as much as you trust in yourself, and your heart will allow you to command new magic. You're awesome, Lucy."

Lucy mouthed some words to Sting while her blush became in between pink and red, and she twiddled her thumbs while asking something. Instead of words, Sting responded by giving his girlfriend a soft and passionate kiss on the lips as he held her hands in his and looked into her beautiful cocoa brown eyes eyes. They really were the perfect team, always supporting each other and working together to accomplish a goal they both shared. As the confetti came down to end the fourth day, Sting and Lucy walked back to their team's booth while holding hands the whole way there. The crowd cheered excitedly after seeing the kiss, especially Mira and Lisanna.

* * *

However, Mavis and Makarov were both trembling from seeing that enormous power Lucy had been wielding. They could not believe their eyes, knowing what they had seen, and it truly frightened them. Makarov had heard the stories about it i many history books, seeing it as nothing more than a myth, but now he had reason to believe that what he had just seen was no myth. Mavis was breathing heavily, though, stunned that something like this had happened. She thought that this matter was over with, that it was gone for good.

_"That book Lucy wields, and seeing that woman's appearance... Thorn, I thought that you had been dead all this time. Just like I see now in Team Sweet Melancholy, you and Karen are up to no good once again." _She thought to herself while shuddering more in fear, having really recognized Karen now while seeing her, and knowing that Lucy was part of their plan to try and redo what they had tried to do back then.

* * *

**How was Chapter 21? Pretty intense, huh? I apologize for Sting not showing off his moves that much, but he will show them off on the fifth day when he starts having suspicions about a certain guild as he remembers stuff about each day prior to this break day. The StiCy is continuing nicely, and the NaLi will continue as well. Will Erza finally find out what Lisanna has been up to? Will Natsu admit that he was in on it? What happens when Karen tells Lucy the story about the book and reveals who Thorn is, after they cross paths again? Standby for the update!**


	22. Chapter 22

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does. This story was made for fun, and not for cash. (How unfortunate.)**

* * *

**Chapter 22: Confrontations and Revelations**

* * *

Sting and Lucy were now at a cafe, starting their mornings off with two hot cups of sugary white coffee, and today was the fifth day of the Grand Magic Games. It wasn't exactly the final day that involved a survival tournament with all five members competing, and today was actually a day for all of the teams to take a well-deserved break. Some of them certainly needed it, with their low scores from the previous four days, and they would be able to use this time to prepare for when the final battles would begin.

The tag-team battle involving Sabertooth and Fairy Tail had been the most talked about battle by everyone in Crocus, and people who were viewing the Grand Magic Games on their televisions were also bringing the most views to that battle alone. After it had ended, Sting had been signing many autographs for all of his fan girls. They thought that he still looked hot, even when he was scared of Thorn's power, and they had also been taking pictures with him because he had really redeemed himself from last year.

Lucy had been taking pictures with many kids, who also asked for her autographs while they curiously saw the pink book of spells that she had wielded, and she had also asked Virgo to entertain the kids for her to have some time alone with Sting. Unknown to the blonde girl, those kids were really excited to see one of the Celestial Spirits summoned for them. They had ran out of the cafe with Virgo, wanting to play with her, and the pink-haired spirit thought that this was a good kind of punishment from her princess.

The kids were not exactly really understanding about how magic worked, and Lucy let out a sigh of relief at the fact that none of them had called her by the name of Thorn. Lucy didn't have the slightest idea about who Thorn was, having never even heard her name from her own parents when they were alive, and she still could not understand how Thorn appeared yesterday. As soon as the book turned black, Lucy had lost control of her body while she felt that dark presence within her heart and soul.

She knew that Natsu had knocked the perfume and the book out of her hands, but Lucy could not understand how they had fused together like that. Under normal circumstances, perfume would ruin a book with its liquid if it ever made contact with the pages. However, the perfume seemed to have unlocked that last section of spells. Lucy knew that Parfum Magic was a type of Holder Magic, so why had that bottle of black perfume been so different from any normal perfume bottle? Why was it made to have such dark power?

The brown-eyed girl still looked somewhat scared from the dark power that Thorn had been unleashing yesterday, feeling it to come from things like malice and hatred, and she had even told Sting that those spells were now off-limits to her. She did not want to be known as the mage who could wreak havoc while having a dark side, especially since her own team looked scared from seeing the immense power of Thorn. They had not wanted to say anything to upset her, but something was definitely weird about the book.

"Are you still frightened, Lucy? You'd usually have your hot coffee consumed by now, and it feels cold. I'll get you another one, if you want. Does the darkness in the book still have you freaked out like I was?" Sting asked with a concerned look on his face while having a desire to comfort her in his charming blue eyes, not wanting his girlfriend to become terrified or think that she was some kind of evil monster.

Lucy responded in a soft voice while looking at Sting, not knowing that her cocoa brown eyes were showing him how uneasy she felt about Thorn's vicious level of power, "I'm fine, Sting. Really, I am. You said that I just need to get this new type of magic under control, and you would help me do that. I just have to believe in myself, and I'll be able to make it obey me. This is all that jerk Natsu's fault, anyway. If he hadn't knocked the book and perfume bottle out of my hands, I could've used Fire Magic to nearly burn him to a crisp like I did last time."

Sting could tell that Lucy was really trying her best to stay positive, but it was really no surprise that her eyes revealed to him that the dark power of Thorn had really shook her up on the inside. After all, Lucy was the wielder of the book. She probably did not even know about Thorn being linked to the book in some interesting yet strange way, and Lucy had wondered why Thorn seemed so vicious. Even though she had beaten down Lucy's worst ex-boyfriend ever, didn't Thorn go a little too far without showing any sort of mercy?

Despite the fact that he could understand why Thorn wanted to show Lucy how to really take out her revenge on the guy who she greatly despised, Sting had really been more curious about the person who gave Lucy that book. She might not have had any real thoughts about it, but Sting really had his doubts about them being a random merchant like how Lucy had once told him. She still wore the white heart-shaped pendant around her neck, even though it hadn't really had much of a role lately, too.

Sting had a pretty good idea that whoever gave Lucy that book had clearly known more about it, rather than just giving her a book with weird spells of magic in it, and they had been hiding some important info from her. He had not even seen that bottle of perfume, up until yesterday when Lucy had decided to use it to make herself smell good, and he knew that she usually bought things like clothes and perfume with receipts and shopping bags near it. Since those weren't in the room yesterday, the white dragon slayer wondered where she had found something like that.

He did not want to confront Lucy about it, knowing that she was already shaken up enough by the dark powers of Thorn, and he also did not want to risk anything like that causing their relationship to fall apart if Lucy would fight with him about. He was definitely not going to make her feel uncomfortable, and Sting was starting to have a little plan of his own. He had gotten up from his seat to quickly buy another hot cup of white coffee for Lucy, and he ran back to her while placing the hot cup of sugary coffee on the table. He went around to her side, kissing her lips in a romantic manner to get her feeling good again, and Sting broke the kiss after a few moments to walk away to somewhere.

"Where are you going, Sting?" Lucy asked curiously while smiling, blushing happily from the kiss that really snapped her out of her worries for a little bit.

He replied kindly while turning around to her face her, smirking with his usual high amount of confidence shining brightly like his pearly white teeth, "Oh, I just have to go find Rogue and talk to him about a new move that we came up with."

Lucy told Sting that she was very glad that him and Rogue had found the time to create new moves, and she also smiled happily while waving goodbye to her boyfriend as he exited the cafe while he appeared to be walking off to find Rogue somewhere in Crocus. With Sting supposedly having to do something, Lucy knew that there some business that she had a take care of with a certain new friend of hers. Since Thorn had been released from the perfume bottle, as a result of what Natsu had done, couldn't Karen explain everything to her?

Surely she had to have known about the gifts that she gave to Lucy, especially the spell book, and Lucy took in a deep breath while wondering what she was going to say to the woman with silvery-blue hair. She did want to know about Thorn, but Lucy also wanted to know more about the spell book as well. After all, if a pure and innocent soul was necessary to open the sealed book, why was someone as vicious as Thorn linked to it? Also, Lucy found it to be very strange that Thorn knew exactly how her spells worked like she was an expert with them. Didn't her dark power appear only yesterday?

Lucy left the cafe quickly, looking left and right to make sure that no one from Team Sabertooth or the Fairy Tail teams was around to distract her from what she had to do. She ran all the way to a different street of Crocus, going to one of the intersections from its southern path as a bird's-eye-view would show from above, and Lucy kept going north while she planned to track Karen down with the intent of learning everything that she needed to know. However, unbeknownst to the brown-eyed girl, Sting had been watching her from behind a tree. He lied about the training with Rogue, making an excuse to not seem suspicious, and Sting was secretly going to follow his girlfriend to also see who she would be chatting with.

* * *

**Meanwhile...**

The tag-team battle had left the guild of Fairy Tail pretty shaken up, since both teams had come to the infirmary of the Domus Flau to see how Natsu and Erza were doing, and some people like Levy had their hands over their mouths while looking pretty shocked at what Lucy had done. Gajeel did not even feel like laughing at the fire dragon slayer right now, since the damage that Thorn and Lucy had done on the outside did not seem to really be the worst of it. Even Gray looked pretty freaked out, and he was glad that Natsu had been chosen to fight instead of him.

Natsu had to have his whole body bandaged up while he laid in bed, unable to even move, and the only visible parts of him were his hair, eyes, and mouth. Everything else had to be covered up, most likely to stop all the bleeding and cover up his wounds as well, and Natsu actually had pretty serious injuries from his fight with Thorn. Even though he was smiling confidently, simply trying to give a thumbs-up to everyone in the room to show hem that he was supposedly okay would cause him to feel searing pain in his hands and arms.

Thorn's explosive spells had caused Natsu to have wounds on the outside, but she had damaged his body right when she used her first spell. Getting hit by Shadow Beam had caused some of his bones to be broken, and that Shadow Punch spell had severely broken his arms while twisting them as well. The muscles in his arms and legs were really torn up from the shadows having so much immense pressure in them while they had been breaking his limbs. He had also lost quite a lot of blood, and he needed emergency treatment.

Natsu had really made light of Lucy this time, and he really paid the price for being so rude to her. He had slapped her book and perfume into the air, before he choked her and tried to make her truly feel defenseless like he trash that he thought she was, but he really changed the mood of the fight from proving one worth's to being total all-out homicide when the perfume had spilled on to the book. Natsu's flames had accidentally loosened the cap on the bottle, causing the shadowy liquid that contained Thorn to spill, and he had really screwed up.

The fire dragon slayer did not know what he had unleashed, and he had been too concerned with winning the match to hear Erza weakly tell him to get away when she saw the black aura spiraling around Lucy's body. The scarlet-haired mage's injuries had been fully healed by Wendy and Chelia, but she had been resting all day until she could regain movement in her feet. They were still paralyzed by the fierceness of Thorn, since her level of magical power was off the charts, and Erza had also been low on magical power after enduring Lucy's spells of Heavenly Body Magic and requipping so many armors and weapons.

She had been telling Natsu to not mess with Lucy at any point during the Grand Magic Games, but he just had to let his pride get the better of him. Lucy had definitely shown him up in that fight, whether it was her or Thorn, but both fights left Natsu seeming incapacitated. He wanted to be in the survival tournament on the final day, hoping for Fairy Tail to win while he had some epic fights, but it did not look like that would happen. His reckless attitude led to his own demise, and it looked like his bad karma kept on coming.

"This sucks! Just heal me up, guys! I can totally recover fast with some fire, so just bring me a bunch of lit candles! I could've won that fight, if Lucy hadn't transformed into that gothic demon girl!" Natsu shouted in an impatient manner, looking like he was read to take out his revenge on Lucy and Sting.

"Really, why should we help you? Natsu, it's pretty much all your fault that Fairy Tail lost another battle. You were being such a jerk to Lucy in the fight, and I saw what happened. You did knock the book and perfume out of her hands, but the perfume bottle was opened and it spilled on to the book. Then, all the black smoke appeared and Lucy turned into that gothic girl who almost killed you and Erza. If you hadn't been so dirty to do that to Lucy, as well as trying to choke her, then maybe you wouldn't have lost." Lisanna asked and explained with a straight face, talking in a very convincing and manipulative manner for everyone to agree with her.

Natsu looked angry while reminding her that Team Fairy Tail B lost as well, but Lisanna countered his statement by letting him know that those girls from Team Sweet Melancholy were not in any conflict with them. They had just wanted to end it as fast as possible, which they did. Lisanna was smart enough to hide the fact about Karen's cheating in the card game event, though, since she had actually seen her cards change while the shadows had strangely moved around. Since Karen used shadows, couldn't that connection with a new ally be made?

Plus, Lisanna had remembered how Mabel was glad to work with her during the treasure chest event. They had worked together to eliminate Erza, something that helped a little bit for Natsu's deal with Lisanna, and Team Sweet Melancholy seemed to like playing dirty. Since Lisanna also liked to use pretty devious tactics, in the situation where she was actually pushed to do so, she knew how the old saying went. The enemy of her enemy was her friend, and Natsu was definitely Lisanna's enemy now.

He really wanted to defend himself against her, most likely to save what little ounces of pride and confident he had left, but Natsu looked surprised when Lisanna gave him a harsh look that let him know that their deal was off and that any chances that he had of gaining her trust back were pretty much thrown out the nearest window. She did not want to waste her time on a guy who was so incredibly abusive to Lucy in many ways, and she really did not want any other girl in the Fairy Tail guild to waste her time with him at all. The white-haired mage proceeded to evilly smirk at Natsu, letting him know what would come out of her mouth next.

"Don't even think about it, Lisanna. If you tell them, you'll only be hurting yourself. It must suck to make deals that will backfire on you, you vice-president of the I Want To Be Lucy's Friend Club." Natsu told her while smirking arrogantly, knowing full well that the deal about him being forced to throw challenges would all blow up in Lisanna's face right now because of her careless thinking.

Instead, everyone looked concerned to see tears falling from Lisanna's eyes while her shoulders were shaking like she was saddened about something. She made up a very convincing lie that Natsu wanted her to come back for him, and he had told her to throw challenges while he would do the same. He had supposedly forced her into this deal on the second day of the Grand Magic Games, and Lisanna also told everyone how she initially refused. However, Natsu wouldn't take no for an answer. He told her to keep the deal secret, and he had chained her to it by raping her in the shower when she was all alone.

She even pulled out the Videotape Lacrima Crystal from the left pocket of her pants, and turned it on to show some footage. The footage from the crystal had no date on when it was filmed, but it clearly showed a night of Natsu forcefully trying to dominate over a naked Lisanna in the shower. She was moaning in a scared tone while blushing, actually not enjoying it at all, and guys like Gajeel, Laxus, Gray, Makarov, and Jellal had nosebleeds when they saw Natsu pumping his fingers in and out of Lisanna's womanhood. Quite clever to have footage and acting skills, right? (I apologize for the lemony talk in this part, but many people messaged me about wanting to see the footage that Lisanna had and even gave that specific suggestion.)

After Lisanna turned the Videotape Lacrima Crystal off, as the video ended, she continued to cry while looking distressed. She hugged Mira tightly, looking incredibly afraid, and the older Strauss sister glared at Natsu like he did the worst crime in the whole world. Even Elfman wanted to make the fire dragon slayer be more beaten down worse than he already was for what he did to Lisanna, and it took the power of Makarov's enlarged left hand to hold the white-haired man back. Makarov did not any fighting to happen outside of a battle, since that would get both teams arrested, and he simply left the room with Laxus and the others. Every girl glared at Natsu while they walked out, but Erza asked Lisanna to stay.

"I hope you both know that I'm not stupid. After putting all the pieces together, I realized that Fairy Tail has been cheated out of wins that we could've easily gotten. Natsu, I remember that deal you made with Lisanna. Judging by how you acted on the second day, it seems like you were throwing challenges for her. Lisanna, you sure love to make alliances these days. Making everyone side against Natsu, just because he hates Lucy and broke your deal, is really low. Don't use emotional stuff like that, and both of you better bring your best skills tomorrow. After all, the higher-ranked team is 26 points behind Sabertooth. Stop fighting each other, and step it up a notch. Maybe if you fight Lucy like a friend and ask for forgiveness, Natsu, she might budge a little." Erza explained in a stern manner while glaring at both of her friends, finding this situation to be out of hand.

* * *

**Elsewhere...**

Rufus had called Yukino to a cafe different from the one where Lucy and Sting were located, and it was at an outside black patio table across from the four shadowy members of Team Sweet Melancholy. They were all female, and the fourth person that Karen had created from the shadows to form her full team was a girl known as Haruka Furawa. She wore a simple black T-shirt with a pair of grey jeans, and her dark green hair was tied into two pigtails. She had pale green eyes as well, and all four of the girls seemed to be eating cake from another cafe.

Yukino had been curious as to why the Memory-Make mage had called her here to meet him, and he had been sitting at a table with Rogue and Orga. Whatever was going on, Rufus wanted his friends to know about it. Lucy and Sting were too far away for him to go get them, and it didn't seem like either one of them would be coming his way. The topic that he wanted to discuss with his friends would probably seem almost hard to believe, but it was certainly the weird and hard truth that confirmed his suspicions.

"All right. Now that everyone is here, let m begin this discussion. Keep in mind that we only inform Lucy and Sting about this, and nobody else can hear it on the next day when the survival battles begin. It has come to my memory that a certain opposing guild in the tournament has not exactly been competing fairly. In fact, I remember everything I have seen. They did not do it on the first day, but it appears that we had outside help on the second day." Rufus explained with a calm smile on his face, interestingly not frowning about what he suspected.

Rufus had observed all his opponents, and he had put the pieces together when he saw Karen using shadows to throw Cana out of the arena on the fourth day when Team Sweet Melancholy was matched up against Team Fairy Tail B. She was the same person who used a shadow on the second day to eliminate Mirajane from the event, and she had swapped everyone's cards on the third day's event. She had also eliminated Rocker from the fourth day's event, assisting Mable in her task of picking on people, and Rufus found it weird how they cheated so easily while never targeting Sabertooth.

If they wanted to win this tournament, they wouldn't get fourth and second in two events each while also giving one battle to Team Fairy Tail B before striking back in a rematch for some odd reason. Kira's match against Mirajane would have certainly ended in a draw, but she forfeited before the time ran out. The members of Kira's team acted like they didn't even care for that battle, too, and Rufus really had to question that team's motives for being in this competition. They were after something, but what?

Yukino told Rufus in a soft tone of voice while looking at him, ignoring the fact that the members of Team Sweet Melancholy disappeared into the shadows when they sensed something, "Even when they don't cheat, they are strong people. Let's just steer clear of them, Rufus-san. If we don't attack them, they won't attack us."

* * *

**In a park...**

Lucy had arrived at a grassy park in Crocus, not seeing anyone around while the breeze blew past her, and this was the same park where she had received the black bottle of perfume from Karen. The trees had made shadows, due to the sun shining down on them, and the leaves also had shadows while they fell to the ground. Lucy sat down on the bench, wondering where Karen would be while she looked a bit disappointed and let out a sigh at the thought of her not being here, but she just had to tempt fate.

The woman with long silvery-blue hair came out of the shadow of a nearby tree, and she walked towards Lucy with a calm look in her silvery-blue eyes. She seemed to be eating a cheeseburger while keeping the yellow wrapper on the bottom half of the cheeseburger, and she smiled while seeing that the young blonde maiden had surprisingly called for her. She did not know what Lucy could be wanting at the moment, but Karen gave her a look that let the blonde mage know that Karen would do anything for her.

"Greetings, book master. Is there something that you need help with?" Karen calmly asked with a smile on her face, as she proceeded to sit next to Lucy on the brown park bench.

The blonde mage asked kindly, looking a bit scared, "That dark power... When you first gave me this book, why didn't you tell me that it could turn black with Thorn's power? Also, I know that was no ordinary perfume you gave me. When Natsu made it spill on the book, something happened to make Thorn take over for me in the battle. Will you please tell me how and why the auras, absorbing magic, the perfume, and Thorn are involved in this book that was sealed?"

Upon hearing Lucy's questions, Karen began to smirk a bit. Lucy had not exactly asked about the full history of the book, which was both good for Karen and Thorne, but the woman with silvery-blue hair decided to tell the blonde maiden about what she had asked. Whatever she told Lucy would certainly have a lot of truth behind it, but could Lucy accept that truth? Taking in a deep breath of air, before slowly exhaling and still maintaining her smirk, Karen was now ready to go ahead and tell Lucy a little story about the book.

"The book was actually created by Thorn herself, and she was the daughter of a very elegant woman with a rich father. She had no real talent for learning Caster Magic at all, and even Holder Magic was useless in her hands. Thorn had been the disliked daughter, mainly because she had inherited the lost genetics of a demonic ancestor. Nothing of pure magic would work in her hands, making sense with the fact that she had a very hateful heart, and I was her best friend back in the day. She used to be a weakling like you, Lucy. She knew that it was forbidden to even read any kind of book of the Black Arts, let alone make one with Molding Magic in the mix to be able to be versatile, but Thorn also knew that there was no way that she could be talented without it." Karen explained in a calm manner, smiling a bit.

Lucy was surprised to know that Thorn came from such a harsh past, and she had been a weakling who created a book of spells for her own good gain. She had wanted to become stronger, similar to Lucy's resolve, but Thorn had picked such an illegal way to do it. She had risked so much to become stronger for herself, that was true, but then how did someone with such a good resolve become so bad? Thorn had been rebellious like that, but dark power was not something that came naturally.

"Thorn invited me along on her quest to defeat some demons whose powers she could use for herself, you know. She would write the olden languages in the blood of the demons, and every type of magic has its own color as well. We traveled around so much like a Wizard Saint and assistant, so I always referred to Karen as a master or mistress. She put many curses on her book as well, curses that would prevent almost anyone from reading her book, and one of those curses is adjustment. The spells you use are similar to Thorn's, but they resonate with your heart." The mysterious woman continued, beginning to smirk like the last part would leave Lucy with a blown mind in a state of shock.

"When Thorn eventually died, the shadows of the deceased demon Kurokage were still obedient to Thorn's will. Her soul merged with them, since they were created from the light of what destroyed her. I managed to eat the shadows as well, and preserve Thorn's shadowy blood in her favorite bottle of perfume, but I only have Kurokage's beginner abilities. Thorn's will lives on, and that horrible light had activated the curse of the seven seals. It was bright enough to make eight shadows extend outward from the book, sending the auras in eight different directions across the globe, and that damn guild had taken the book before I could grab it. In this time, I managed to steal it back from them for you to have. You are not just a young blonde maiden, Lucy. You are the outer light and inner darkness of your dark and infamous ancestor, Thorn Heartfilia." Karen finished explaining with a smile on her face, giggling a bit while waving goodbye and disappearing into the shadows.

As Karen left the park, her last revelations could only leave Lucy at a complete loss for words. She was the pure and innocent soul that was needed to unseal the book, which was a good thing. She was accepted by auras and other types of magic, which proved how good she was. She wanted to become powerful and become stronger, which was a good goal. However, she was the descendant of the infamous Thorn Heartfilia? That woman had been known as the Gothic Demon, and now her darkness was linked to Lucy. The blonde mage slowly got up off the bench, falling to her knees, and she couldn't believe it.

Sting had been watching from behind a tree the entire time, and he revealed himself quickly while he had heard everything. He asked Lucy if she was ok, if she was all right, but all she was right now was too shocked to even hear him.

* * *

**How was the 22nd chapter? Did you like it? Sorry if there wasn't much StiCy, but this was meant to be a semi-filler. Anyway, look at the big whiplash we have here! Lucy is the descendant of Thorn Heartfilia, one of the baddest mages ever! That's really got to be a shocker! Can Sting snap her out of the shock? What happens in the survival tournament? Will Sting do something to the book, causing an interesting effect? Standby for the update!**


	23. Chapter 23

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does. This story was made for fun, and not for cash. (How unfortunate.)**

* * *

**Chapter 23: Smart and Outsmart; Hunting**

* * *

Sting, Lucy, and Lector had gotten breakfast at a waffle shop in Crocus, and all three of them were happily smiling while cutting up their syrup-covered waffles and eating them piece by piece. Today was the sixth and final day of the Grand Magic Games, the day that would decide everything with its survival tournament. Of course, everything leading up to this day was pretty climactic as well. All of the drama that had transpired up to this point would definitely settled here with the winners and the losers, right?

Lucy was trying to clear her head of everything that Karen had told her yesterday, not wanting to really believe any of the stuff about Thorn being her ancestor, and she dipped a piece of her waffle into maple syrup before stabbing it with a fork and bringing the food up to her mouth. The waffles were delectable and sweet, just like how she was. She giggled while smiling down at her food, and noticing on the corner of her left eye that the pink spell book had turned blue during the night and it was now having blue beams of light shine from it.

She looked curious about this, wondering why the blue color representing Water Magic would appear once again, and Lucy knew very well that she had already unlocked the first eight spells of Water Magic. They had been her main attack spells when she was out at sea, or having to do jobs in faraway lands that could only be accessed by crossing the harsh oceans where pirates lived, and the blonde mage really had to wonder why a ninth spell or more would be showing up now. Had she grown in some way?

Sting and Lector also wondered what was going on with the book, thinking it was not possible for those unreadable spells to ever be read by Lucy, and they both were hoping that the blonde girl would not be scared when she opened the book. Sting had informed his red Exceed about everything that had been happening with him and Lucy lately, making the latter smirk at the fact that Sting was being a good boyfriend to Lucy. Lector also let Sting know that Lucy had been falling for the charms of the white dragon slayer, seeing as she blushed a light shade of pink while putting her left hand on the blue book.

Lucy's heart beat with nervousness, feeling a bit fearful about something bad like Thorn popping out of the book to try and destroy her, but then she exhaled a breath of air while remembering that Sting was with her. If any monster of any kind came out of the book, Sting and his Holy Nova would definitely put it to rest. Lucy also had to wonder what the ninth spell or any of the new spells could be like, since she had known that many of her attacks came with side effects and drawbacks. What would the book give her?

When she narrowed her brown eyes, having some courage in them, Lucy read from the first three lines of shining blue text in a calm manner while she had used most of the willpower in her left hand to open the book and overcome her fears, "Welcome, book wielder. Congratulations on breaking the seven seals, along with now having all eight types of magic at your disposal. However, you are still permitted the use of only one type of magic at one time. Nothing seems to have changed now, but your golden key allies will help you see the changes in the book."

From reading these words, Lucy looked a bit puzzled. The book had simply delivered a message to her, and it seemed to be trying to collaborate with Lucy's Celestial Spirit Keys. She knew that they would get stronger while she got stronger, but how strong had she truly gotten? Lucy would hate to have Aquarius be weak against anybody in the survival tournament today, and she certainly did not want any of her other spirits to be weakened. She could now open five Celestial Spirit gates, but would even five spirits be enough?

Sting told Lucy with a kind smile on his face, letting his left hand touch hers while making her feel a bit more relaxed about today, "I think the book is letting you know that your spirits don't all directly work with its powers, but they can. Your Fire Magic can combine with the arrows of Sagittarius to make fiery arrows or something, you know. Also, I heard everything that Karen said to you yesterday. Just because you're related to Thorn, that does not mean you are actually like her. Thorn's darkness may be in you, but that doesn't mean it is you."

He let his girlfriend know that the dark magic she used had only come from her hate towards Natsu, since Thorn was more vengeful than competitive, and the other seven types had much more positive energy. Even the Darkness Magic of Darcy was not necessarily bad, since it had a more anti-hero and trickster feel to it, and that type of magic was actually meant to be used as the attacks with immobilizing capabilities. Darkness Magic consumed more energy than the other six, so a powerhouse like that had to be backed up by something else at certain times.

Lucy always felt lifted up by Sting's words of encouragement, and she just had to not let the dark power become loose. Of course, the other types of magic would still be able to be used by her in many battles. They were the ones who really listened to her, with the sole exception of Darkness Magic, and Lucy simply had to pick one type of magic to be used today. Of course, depending on who she encountered in the battles on this final day, Lucy would have to pick very carefully. One wrong move, and it would be over for her.

She could only use one type of magic until it completely ran out, meaning that she could not risk fighting with a type of magic to take down Gray Fullbuster while that same kind of magic may be ineffective if Juvia were to come along and join in on the fight. She would have to be extremely careful in a different situation, too. If her Lightning Magic could beat Juvia, it may not be strong enough to defeat someone like Laxus. Type match-ups were crucial in every type of battle, but fights like this with multiple opponents being a possibility was certainly an issue.

Upon seeing the clock on the wall, Lucy's cocoa brown eyes widened in surprise at the current time. It was now 8:30 in the morning, and the survival tournament would begin at 9:00 in the morning. All of the members had to be present in their team's starting area of Crocus before the event could transpire, so Lucy decided to get up out of her chair and start to go out of the restaurant. Sting smiled while following her as well, and he noticed that Lucy held her book open while she was walking. He unleashed a thin beam of white light from the tip of his left index finger, and hit some of the unreadable light blue words in the section for Water Magic. When Sting saw them pulsate with a light blue glow for a moment, he knew that the book had listened to his silent wish about letting his girlfriend abide by the rules of using only one type of magic with a little loophole that gave her some extra juice in her attacks.

* * *

**25 minutes later, at a park in Crocus...**

Lucy and Sting arrived at the park to see that their teammates were waiting for them, smiling confidently about wanting to win today. Lucy looked around to see that Yukino was not with Rogue, Rufus, and Orga, and that surprised the blonde mage. She had a strategy that would have involved all of the 12 golden Celestial Spirit Keys, but it looked like that would not happen. Sting let her know that this event would only let five members of a team participate, and that meant Yukino had to watch from the sidelines.

She might not be much help, anyway. Libra and Pisces had been easily defeated by Kagura Mikazuchi last year, and even Ophiuchus fell victim to the style of the sheathed sword. That had actually lowered Yukino's confidence in herself, so Lucy would definitely win for her friend. She also had a score to settle with Natsu, since Thorn technically won the tag-team battle against him and Erza. Lucy wanted to finish that match, actually feel like she could achieve victory over her-ex boyfriend, and he would no longer be able to say that she was weak.

The blonde mage also wanted to win against Fairy Tail for another reason, too. They had Mavis on the sidelines to guide them, and she was an extremely excellent tactician who could figure out the strengths and weaknesses of almost everyone. She had obviously been observing Lucy, seeing everything that she could do, and Lucy knew that she had only used seven of her two positive types of magic. She had not used five of them in this tournament, and she did not want to reveal all her skills to her enemies.

She also knew that Fairy Tail would be playing smart, too. Erza had informed her about Fairy Tail's strategy last year, and it had started off with Gray taking down Rufus because he was the main piece in Sabertooth's strategy. Gray had beaten Rufus making many weapons of ice at an incredibly high shaping speed, and the Memory-Make mage just could not keep up. He had lost to the ice mage in the library, making him gain one point for Fairy Tail, and Lucy had to wonder if Rufus and the others would truly be okay.

After all, she had to worry about her new friends. Orga was instantly taken out by Jura last year, and he did not even have a chance against him. Rogue had easily been taken down by Gajeel, and Sting had surrendered to Fairy Tail after seeing how determined they were to win. If Fairy Tail could have a master strategist, then Lucy could definitely be one. In fact, Fairy Tail had ironically given her a few interesting ideas about what she could do in an event like this. Her spells of Darkness Magic and Heavenly Body were seen already, though.

Lucy also did not have any new spells that she could use, so surprising enemies would be kind of useless. At that moment, her mind flashed bac to the tag-team battle. Lucy's brown eyes widened in amazement from hearing her dense ex-boyfriend tell her that her spells were great with thinking outside the box. Those four words at the end of that last sentence meant that her spells could be used in creative ways, allowing her to not really be as predictable as anyone thought that she would be.

She was also hoping to not run into bad match-ups, knowing full well that the spell book only allowed her to use one type of magic at one time. For example, Fire Magic would work well against mages who used ice like Gray and Lyon. However, Fire Magic would be pretty futile against somebody who manipulated water like Juvia could. Lucy would have to get her opponents by themselves, making these battles be one-on-one for any real chance of success, and she would have to make every shot count while it would also deplete the energy in the type of magic that she was using.

Sting and the others looked concerned for their brown-eyed friend, seeing her tremble with what seemed to be nervousness, and they hoped that Lucy would not crack under pressure. She did not know if winning would be possible against anyone, but Lucy could not let negative thoughts get into her head right now. She began to look determined about winning, refusing to have anyone show her up, and she did not plan to lose today. What would make Lucy end up ultimately winning here, though?

Chapati announced from the judges' booth in the Domus Flau while sounding excited, "Since it's a new year with new things transpiring, here's how this survival game will work! When a member of a team is defeated, their opponent gets five points for their team! When the last person on a team is knocked out, the opponent's team gets 10 points! That totals up to 30 points, meaning that an extremely fast and strong person could earn 210 points overall for their team by defeating everybody else! If you understand all the rules, then let the Grand Magic War Game begin!"

Everyone could only grin in satisfaction at this shocking rule change, and they knew there was more than a slight chance to finally move up from their losses or keep ascending in wins for their respective guilds. Upon hearing the gong be struck for the event to begin, many of the mages began to split up into solos, duos, and trios. The members of Team Sabertooth diverged into five different directions, each person going on their own. Lucy's brown eyes were filled with the determination to win for her new guild, and she was going to do her best.

While Lucy had ran off to the fashion street of Crocus, she did not realize that her blue spell book was still pulsating because of Sting hitting it with a thin beam of light. His light had not given her any new spells to use, not wanting Lucy to be overpowered in something like this, and even the book knew that she could win with eight spells alone. However, let's just say that the light had actually caused the spells in Lucy's book to undergo their first stages of evolution for a nice little power boost to transpire.

* * *

**Meanwhile, up in the stands...**

Mavis Vermilion sat on the ledge next to Makarov, looking at all the movements of every participant on the Lacrima Vision screens, and she had been paying special attention to seeing Lucy. She was the one who now wielded the book of Thorn, the spell book that could be used for extremely evil purposes if it ever fell into the wrong hands, and Mavis hoped that the black book was not being used in a malicious manner by Lucy. It was one of the most unpredictable tools of magic, and the First Master of Fairy Tail somehow knew this.

She had hoped that her prediction would be right on target, though, since she had seen Lucy's spells of Darkness Magic and Heavenly Body Magic be used on the previous days of the tournament. She was hoping that Lucy would either encounter Mirajane or Jellal, both being strong opponents, and they would easily take Lucy out of this event. Mirajane's Darkness Magic was said to be extremely powerful, and Jellal had been one of the Ten Wizard Saints in the year of X784. Either way, they would give Lucy a tough time.

The First Master also smiled a bit from knowing that her calculations were rarely ever off, and she had known that her strategy from last year would work once again. She had instructed Gray to fight Rufus, knowing that the ice mage's emotions could outweigh her calculations as he had proven to her last time, and Mavis had confidence in Gray's abilities. She knew that he would not show any fear towards his enemies in this tournament, and neither would any of the other Fairy Tail members.

With hope building in her green eyes, Mavis smiled a bit at the sight of someone who appeared to be Lucy on the Lacrima Vision screen in front of her. She wore her blonde hair down, having no ribbons to tie it, and Lucy wore a dark green midriff shirt while also wearing a pale green skirt to match. Her flat shoes were in a forest green color, pretty much making her be colored green like money. The winning guild would get fifty million jewels to spend, after all, so it was not really wrong to dress for success.

"Have you come up with some kind of plan to defeat Lucy, First Master? I checked the database of mages last week, and she isn't an S-Class mage or anywhere near the level of a Wizard Saint. Defeating her should not really be too difficult, since she is not on the same level as Thorn Heartfilia. What happened in the last tag-team battle was only some kind of dark coincidence, right?" Makarov asked with a confident smile on his face, thinking that Laxus or Erza could manage to defeat the brown-eyed girl.

She told him, as she began to frown a little bit, "I haven't figured out a true way to deal with her yet, for a few reasons. First, even though my predictions may be on target, I cannot exactly predict the emotions of others. I don't know what type of magic Lucy will use. Secondly, the spells in that magical book are just as unorthodox as they are useful. Lucy could summon up an electric dragon, for all we know, and I would not know how to counter it. Lucy may have Thorn's book, but their sets of spells are far too different when I compared them to each other."

Makarov could only have a stern look on his face, from knowing that there was someone who was able to read the book that a sorceress named Thorn had written. There were many history books about her, but varying things between them made it quite impossible to know the actual details of the sinister things she had done. One thing remained consistent throughout all of the books, though. She created all of the spells in the book she had written, and the magic in that book was malleable enough to create almost anything.

* * *

**Meanwhile…**

Lucy was really keeping her guard up while she tried to find some opponents, and she did not notice that her own shadow split into six shadows that made six other clones of herself rise up from the darkness. The only differences between Lucy and her clones were that they wore the same outfit that she did and had spell books. The only differences were the colors of the books and the outfits that varied from red, orange, yellow, blue, purple, and pink. All of these shadow clones only possessed one type of magic, however, based on the colors of their books.

This was actually one of the book's curses being activated, and it was known as the Seven Shadow Gates. This curse could only be activated when all eight types of magic had acquired the chance at evolution, and this curse would allow Lucy to use more than fourteen percent of her everyday energy. It would release the book's restraints on her amount of magical power, but she could only use this curse after canceling one type of magic. In other words, Lucy and a duplicate of herself could not use spells at the same time. However, this was not a total drawback.

When one clone had finished a fight, they would transfer their type of magic back into Lucy's book for her to now be able to use that type of magic. Thankfully, the Lacrima Vision screens did not catch sight of the seven girls standing on the street. Lucy, however, decided to cancel out this curse. She saw the clones retreat back into the shadows, and she would only call upon them when it was really necessary. After all, it was never a really good idea to use up magical power in a mere matter of seconds.

While Lucy continued to walk around the town, searching for some enemies, she heard Chapati announce that all five members of Team Quatro Ceberus had been defeated by the members of Team Lamia Scale. This meant that the Quatro Cerberus guild was now out of the Grand Magic Games, giving them eighth place with zero points to their name, and Team Lamia Scale was now in second place with sixty-two points. Those guys were certainly powerful, and Lucy was hoping that she would not run into any of them right now.

* * *

**Elsewhere...**

On a street in Crocus, Kagura and the rest of her team were intensely glaring at the five members of Team Sweet Melancholy. The two groups of five females were simply standing across from each other, not even moving a single inch, and Karen started things off by using a sneaky little tool of Holder Magic. It was known as a Light Bomb, a weapon that was normally used to create a large flash of light that would blind opponents for only a few moments while it was in effect, and it was mainly used for fleeing.

However, the woman with silvery-blue hair had planned to use it for a different purpose. She held the white sphere in her hands for only a few moments, before slamming it down on the ground to activate its luminous effect. The bright white light was intense enough to actually reach many parts of Crocus, blinding even Laxus and Orga before they could begin their battle, and the five women from the guild known as Mermaid Heel were engulfed in most of the light. What was Karen planning to do?

She smirked evilly while seeing Kagura's shadow stretch outward from behind her, and the purple-haired woman had managed to quickly grab her sword. She was about to try and attack Karen with her blade still sheathed, but Kagura's eyes widened in pure shock from feeling something wrap itself around her legs tightly. She turned her head around slowly to see that her own shadow was immobilizing her, and the shadows of the other girls had also ceased their mobility as well. Was this just an immobilization technique, however?

Haruka Furawa, the only member of Team Sweet Melancholy who had not fought yet at all in this tournament, had an interesting trick of her own. She exhaled a large breath of air, sending a pink substance towards the nostrils of Milliana, and it smelled like beautiful roses. However, the fumes themselves did not have such pleasant effects. They caused Milliana to evilly glare at her team, and she quickly began to use her Cat Binding Tube to attack Beth before she slashed at the young girl's face. Arania and Risley tried to stop the commotion, but Mable revealed her light blue eye once again while giggling sadistically.

She fired a light blue beam from that eye once again, but this beam was sure to shock everyone. When it hit Kagura and her teammates, they were immediately turned into petrified stone statues. They were now like pale white rocks, not even moving a single bit, and the girls could not even think right now. Karen thought about tipping them all over to break them and kill those girls for good, but Mable told her that the effect of this laser only lasted for twenty minutes. With Team Mermaid Heel unable to keep fighting, Team Sweet Melancholy earned 30 more points to add to their score. They had also managed to take out Mermaid Heel, leaving them in seventh place with 24 points. Karen's team now had 84 points, taking first place away from Sabertooth.

**Elsewhere, in a different part of Crocus...**

Lucy walked down a road in Crocus known as Glamour Street, a street with extravagant stores that were filled with some of Fiore's most fashionable clothing. However, there weren't any tourists here today. The street seemed to be deserted, and she had looked pretty miffed at the fact that she hadn't found one single opponent yet. Had she been walking around in the safe part of Crocus or something, the part where almost no one would even think of going to? Would Lucy not get the chance to fight anybody?

While she was walking around, Lucy also heard Chapati make an important announcement about Fairy Tail. Due to Lisanna choosing not to compete today, since Erza refused to let her blackmail or bash Natsu any further into throwing more fights to make the guild lose, the Fairy Tail mages were now down to ten. Since one team had six people while the other team had four people, it was only fair to make one person from Team Fairy Tail A join Team Fairy Tail B. Mirajane wanted Juvia to take Lisanna's place, since letting her work alongside Gray would give too much of an advantage to Team Fairy Tail A.

The blonde mage continued to walk down the street, still seeing no one nearby, but then she narrowed her brown eyes when she heard some sounds of books falling in a place that seemed like a nearby library. She heard the following sounds of explosions occurring from within the library, making her wonder who could be causing so much havoc inside of that building. There was obviously a fight going on in there, and Lucy had remembered how Erza had informed her about Fairy Tail's strategy to make Sabertooth crumble last time.

If Rufus was supposedly the key point in Sabertooth's downfall, according to the belief of Mavis, why not put a little halt in that plan to hinder Fairy Tail's chances of winning? However, better yet, why not cause a slight bit of confusion? Lucy had begun to close her eyes while exhaling a soft breath of air, and this allowed her to use another curse in the book. It was known as Shadowy Eyes, and it allowed the book to give its wielder the chance to see everything through the darkness of shadows. It was like having hidden cameras without anyone even finding them.

She was letting her eyes search through the shadows, hoping to find what she was looking for, and what she was trying to find would be of utmost importance to Fairy Tail. If logistical support was needed to scout and find enemies, then why not get rid of that support? Lucy knew that Fairy Tail would also be trying to find Sting, who had hidden safely this time around, and she needed to draw their focus away from him. If they thought the others were such great threats, not really seeing her as the main priority, then why not change Fairy Tail's plans?

Lucy opened up the blue spell book, seeing the words for the first spell of Water Magic glow once more, and the brown-eyed girl ran towards the library where Gray and Rufus were fighting. It did not seem like much was going on right now, since the Lacrima Vision screen actually showed that both mages were locked in a stalemate right now, and that was the perfect opportunity for Lucy to help Sabertooth win. She had also heard that Team Sweet Melancholy was now in the lead with four points, and getting five points would put Sabertooth back on top.

* * *

Gray and Rufus were both smirking at each other, feeling amazed that neither mage could land an attack on the other, and this battle had seemed like it would never end. Rufus had even used Memory-Make: Shrine of Turbulent Fangs, but Gray had simply countered by making tornadoes of ice cancel them out. Every explosion was only large enough to make shock waves transpire, knocking the books off of the shelves, and the library was still intact. As Gray and Rufus were about to try another set of attacks, the library's entrance doors were pushed open.

Rufus asked the intruder in a kind manner, knowing who she was, "Excuse me, but won't you let me handle this?"

Lucy replied in a confident manner, noticing that Gray was here, "I'm sorry, Rufus, but I want to truly earn respect from Fairy Tail. I want them all to acknowledge how strong that I have become, and I want to show them that me and Thorn are not one and the same. Gray, I challenge you to a battle!"

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**How was the 23rd chapter? Did you like it? Sorry for the little filler fight, but I did not want to introduce anything major in only the first part of the survival tournament. There will be StiCy, too. Will Lucy be able to handle Gray in a battle, especially when it is a full eight-on-eight spell battle with no substitutions allowed? Will Gray accidentally trigger the full power of Lucy's Water Magic? What other fights transpire? Standby for the update!**


	24. Chapter 24

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does. This story was made for fun, and not for cash. (How unfortunate.)**

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**Chapter 24: Water Magic... Evolved?!**

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Rufus could only look bewildered at the fact that Lucy was here right now, since he had remembered how the members of Team Sabertooth had gone in five separate directions to cover more ground. Why in the world had Lucy come here? If Gray could do it, he would be taking out two mages instead of one. Based on his memory and calculations, Rufus honestly did not even see Lucy as a good match-up against Gray. It wasn't because of the fact that she used a spell book, but the current color of the book made Rufus seem worried.

Water Magic was great as a defensive type of magic, but water could easily be frozen by ice. On top of that, Lucy had let her teammates know that the book only let her use one type of magic at a time. Rufus knew very well that the rules of logic made fire be very effective against ice, and using Water Magic in a situation like this would only be asking for trouble. He did not want to see what would happen, having predicted the possible results of a fight like this, and Rufus simply used his Memory-Make Magic to disappear from the library while Gray was distracted with Lucy.

The ice mage looked a bit curious while going into a combat stance, wondering what would come out of Lucy's blue book, and Gray kept his guard up while he could hear Chapati announce that a new fight had started between Lucy Heartfilia and Gray Fullbuster. The black-haired male narrowed his dark blue eyes at her, not wanting to go easy on her because she was his friend, and Gray decided to start things off with one of his favorite moves. He simply fired five large ice shards from his hands, and they headed straight towards Lucy.

However, she had confidence in her brown eyes while proceeding to evade all of Gray's attacks. Lucy thought about using the book right off the bat, but she smiled confidently while having a little plan. She pulled out the golden key of Aquarius from her brown pouch, opening the Gate of the Water Bearer, and the blue-haired spirit was summoned. Despite now being here, she looked utterly miffed at the fact that Lucy had requested her presence in a place where there was no water around for her to use.

It was true that there was no water in the library, but Lucy was smart. She knew that using the blue spell book's Water Magic in a combination with the powers of Aquarius would get the job done, and the blonde girl proceeded to use the Aqua Ball spell in a way to retaliate against Gray for trying to get a few early strikes at her. Lucy knew that the first spell took a few moments to work, but she also knew that its effects were really nothing to laugh about. She used the first spell of Water Magic, only to discover something interesting.

When Lucy used Aqua Ball, she looked surprised to see that her attack had changed. It was no longer a simple ball of blue water that would pop like a water balloon, but it was a blue ball of water with rings of water spinning around it. It was almost like her attack had evolved, became something new, and Lucy was surprised to see it propel itself from her hand to attack Gray. He jumped out of the way of the attack, grinning a bit when he saw the ball of water simply pop when it hit a bookcase behind him, and Gray laughed a bit.

"Is that really the best that you can do? Come on, Lucy. Even Natsu can aim better than that!" Gray asked and told her in a cocky manner, smiling at the fact that her aim was supposedly off.

She responded nicely while a small smile formed on her lips, noticing something interesting going on behind Gray, "If I were you, I wouldn't celebrate just yet. Let's just say that water has its ways of sneaking up on you."

Lucy pointed to the bookcase behind Gray, and he looked shocked to see that all of the water on the books and the bookcase had begun to stretch outward while detaching itself from whatever it had come into contact with. The Aqua Ball spell divided itself into five Aqua Balls, and they all came towards Gray at high speeds. He dodged each of them, jumping around to try and get out of their way, and Lucy could also control the path of all her projectiles with her left index finger. She accidentally bent it gently, causing five blue blasts of Water Magic to transpire around Gray.

He took notice of her being distracted right now, and Gray ran towards Lucy while he prepared to end this with Ice-Make: Ice Bringer. He made two swords of ice appear in his hands, ready to slash at Lucy in a cross-pattern, and he looked totally ready to win this. However, Gray suddenly found himself having to stop in his tracks when he found the ground to be a bit slippery. He turned his head to see that Lucy's five blasts of Water Magic had made most of the floor wet, which was perfect for to now create twenty Aqua Balls.

Gray kept running towards her while she had to take the time to create them, and he ended up stabbing Lucy in her stomach with one of his swords. She gasped in shock while some blood poured from her stomach, obviously having her guard down, but this close proximity between the two fighters caused Lucy to have an idea. She wouldn't use the powers of Aquarius just yet, but Lucy would use some of her basic spells. Judging by how Aqua Ball had changed, it was highly possible that the other spells had undergone a few changes in them as well.

She used the second spell, Bubble Implosion, and it surprisingly caused the brown-eyed girl to cough up a tiny bubble. Gray looked puzzled by this, simply evading it while he found the attack to be harmless, and he even ignored the fact that Lucy's twenty Aqua Balls were now moving towards the small bubble. When one of them made contact with it, the bubble simply absorbed it and doubled in size while eating up the power of that spell. It ate another Aqua Ball, doubling in size and power once again, and this process repeated itself for a few minutes.

When it was over, Gray found himself looking shocked at the size of the bubble that was once small enough for him to pop. It had now grown to a monstrous size, towering over the ice mage while it floated up to the ceiling, and Gray could presume that a huge blast was coming. It would probably obliterate the entire library, so he did the only logical thing. Gray used his Ice-Make Magic to try and freeze the large bubble in a solid sphere of ice, but it was too late. Lucy had smiled like she had honed in on something, and simply made a popping sound with her mouth to pop the large bubble.

Lucy told Aquarius in a confident manner while smirking as her plan now came to fruition, seeing the bubble pop while it began to send down massive waves of water from above, "Aquarius, absorb all of those waves into your urn! Take in every last drop, if you can!"

The spirit of water shouted fiercely while angrily looking at Gray, "Anyone who tries to freeze such a vast majority of water will be slammed down by the tidal waves of my fury! Prepare to experience your briny defeat, ice mage!"

Aquarius absorbed all of the enormous waves of water into her urn, having no trouble taking in such a high amount of water, and a blue aura began to surround the body of the water spirit. She smirked a bit while definitely feeling the enormous chain power of Lucy's Water Magic, and the Celestial Spirit also took notice of her owner's blue book beginning to shine in accordance with the aura. Lucy began to glare at Gray while focusing on her emotions, building them all up into one huge shot to give some more power to her fourth spell. (Cerulean Charm would not be effective here, and it's the third spell.)

She unleashed Scalding Shot, and this was the spell that was fired as a scalding and spiraling blue beam of water from her mouth. Gray looked surprised to see so much steam surrounding the attack, implying that he would literally be in hot water soon, but the ice mage looked even more surprised to see that Lucy fired the spell at the urn being held by Aquarius. The hot water was easily absorbed into the urn, and the blue aura surrounding the body of Aquarius began to distend. Gray hd to wonder what Lucy was up to, since her attention was now away from him.

Lucy had remembered how Scalding Shot had increased in power and size when she had used it to break the lock in the Snowpoint Temple, mainly thanks to the help of the Aqua Balls, and Aquarius had already absorbed two powerful spells that were chained together. Using the chain power for one spell was pretty dangerous, but using so much chain power for three spells? What kind of crazy idea had Lucy come up with? She could feel that something amazing was happening inside of the urn, and the power inside of it was going to help her win this match.

By this point, Gray was looking pretty impatient. He had wanted to finish his match against Rufus, but Lucy had to come along and ruin that for him. The ice mage simply used his magic to create a large arm out of ice, and he lunged the massive closed fist at Lucy. This attack would not only hit her very hard, but it would also freeze her. This attack was known as Ice-Make: Frozen Fist, by the way. Lucy looked shocked at the enormous size of this attack, but she absolutely could not let her confidence waver now.

When Gray's Frozen Fist came mere inches away from Lucy and Aquarius, the blonde mage now became fierce while she told her Celestial Spirit to unleash all of her water at full power. Aquarius did as instructed, and she nearly became pushed backwards when she unleashed a large spiraling blue beam of scalding hot water. It was at least twenty times larger than Scalding Shot, obviously affected by the chain power of the other spells, and Lucy could definitely feel the intense heat from this attack.

It smashed right through Gray's Frozen Fist attack, the scalding water having enough power to break down while also melting it down easily because of the chain power increasing the temperature of the heat, and Gray looked pretty scared when he noticed how this spell also had increased greatly in speed. He tried to run away from it, but Lucy's spell was way too fast. It had all of its power focused into one point, and Gray could feel the boiling hot heat of the attack getting closer to him. Would Lucy be the one to beat now, instead of Rufus?

As the black-haired male was running away, Lucy jumped high into the air and used the spell known as Cerulean Chew. She chewed a blue bubble of water in her mouth for a few moments, before spitting it out and aiming the saliva to hit Gray's feet. This spell had evolved as well, growing to the point where it could expand on an opponent to immobilize their legs, and Gray's movements were now restricted. He could only scream in terror while Lucy's more major move was mere millimeters away from his face, knowing that a winner had clearly been decided.

Lucy quickly sent Aquarius back into the Celestial Spirit World, not wanting her to be hit by the result of this attack, and it was a good thing that she had quick thinking. The result of what she could now Explosive Scalding Shot, hence the name, had created quite a massive blast of blue energy to fill the skies. This attack destroyed the remaining pieces of Gray's Frozen Fist, and some of his ice shards had landed on the blue spell book. The library had also become decimated, crumbling to pieces while the remaining puddles of water also exploded with blue smoke to destroy the debris.

The blonde mage from Sabertooth stood across from an unconscious and heavily damaged Gray, who had been hurt from directly taking the full power of that final attack, and the explosions had certainly gotten the attention of the other competitors who were walking around Crocus. Lucy smiled a bit at the fact that she had really become stronger, and she was happy to have won a battle against Gray. This victory caused Team Sabertooth to gain five points, a crucial amount of points that had given them a score of 85. They were now one point ahead of Team Sweet Melancholy, and that point was certainly not something that Sting would cry about.

While the Lacrima Vision screens went away, now that this fight was done, Lucy suddenly began to disappear in a puff of white smoke. The truth is, she had never actually come to the library. The shadow clone curse was not used, which was true, but the book had decided to use the curse of its own free will. It had wanted Lucy to win, and it also wanted to see how strong she could truly be with individual types of magic. It was also the perfect way to prevent Lucy from feeling limited, should she end up having a bad match-up with more than one opponent around. Where was the real Lucy, and how were her clones doing in their battles?

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**In a grassy park...**

Lyon and Chelia were facing off against another one of Lucy's clones in one of the grassy fields of the city of Crocus, just like how Gray had been doing. This clone wore a green midriff shirt, a green miniskirt, and some green high heels. She also had a green spell book with her, which clearly meant that she possessed Wind Magic. She looked pretty confident about winning this battle, thinking that she would not exactly have to push too hard for a decent win, but Lucy's clone still knew that it was better to be safe and sorry.

She decided to start off this battle with the first spell of Wind Magic, and it was known as Aerial Disc. This spell caused Lucy to shoot out three green buzz saw-like blades from her left hand, and they flew towards the two Lamia Scale mages. Lyon and Chelia both managed to evade Lucy's attacks, taking note of the emerald green blasts that had transpired behind them, and Lyon had heard about Gray getting defeated a few moments earlier. He was going to show Lucy the power of a real ice mage, and Lyon was determined to not lose.

He used his Ice-Make Magic to send a few ice eagles towards Lucy, but she simply vanished into the wind while Lyon's projectiles struck the ground. Lucy immediately chose to now use her second spell known as Aerial Piercer. Lyon now decided to send a few ice serpents to attack the blonde mage, but Lucy put her hands together before opening them to reveal five small green birds that were made from the wind. Lucy commanded them to strike the large ice serpents that had been created by one of her opponents, and the birds flew towards them at high speeds.

They flew straight through the ice serpents, piercing right through them like a set of sharp swords, and the birds made more emerald green blasts of Wind Magic occur when they had struck the ground. Lyon looked baffled at the fact that one of his best attacks had been pierced through so easily, as he saw his icy creations shatter while they fell apart to become rubble of what they once were, and he did not want to lose in the survival tournament like last year. He still doubted his teamwork with Chelia, but what else could he do?

Speaking of the pink-haired Sky God Slayer, she narrowed her blue eyes at Lucy while proceeding to use Sky God's Bellow. She unleashed a spiraling beam of black winds from her mouth, sending it straight towards Lucy at high speeds, but the blonde girl simply opened her mouth to surprisingly eat the black winds. Both Lyon and Chelia looked pretty shocked by what had just happened, having never seen something like this before, and she really wondered what her opponent would plan on doing next.

"I have to admit, she's just as good as the rumors make her out to be." Lyon told Chelia in a calm manner, maintaining his smirk of coolness while knowing that their blonde opponent would eventually run out of magical power.

The pink-haired girl responded while looking confident as well, feeling that they really could win this, "You're right, Lyon. Even though she absorbed my black winds, I really doubt that she can use anything more than Wind Magic. As long as I eat her spells like she ate mine, we can both keep fighting for a long time."

However, Lyon and Chelia just had to tempt fate by saying those words. Lucy's clone of Wind Magic wasn't exactly the type to reveal what exactly she was planning to do, but it was probably going to be something that was pretty big. She seemed to be looking straight up at the sky, looking at the clouds in a rather bored manner, and Lucy's clone simply used the fifth spell known as Feather Dancer. This move caused many green feathers to float in midair, before they landed around Lyon and Chelia, leaving both of them looking pretty puzzled.

In an instant, a multitude of medium-sized emerald green blasts of Wind Magic transpired. They were powerful enough to damage Lucy's two opponents from Team Lamia Scale, but this spell had also evolved. It made the blasts have the ability to blow their opponents far away, rather than sending them flying, and the winds from the Feather Dancer spell had blown Lyon and Chelia out of the city's limits. Since they were now in the ocean, despite resurfacing quickly, they were still eliminated from the survival tournament.

Since this Lucy had technically gotten her opponents out of the battle, she had earned ten more points for Team Sabertooth. This gave them a score of ninety-five points now, widening the gap between them and Team Sweet Melancholy, and Lucy had also reduced the number of competing members on Team Lamia Scale from five to three. Even though things seemed to be pretty exciting now, this was still only the beginning of the survival tournament. With the weak and comical competitors getting weeded out, it would take more than power for the book to keep up Lucy's winning streak...

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**How was Chapter 24? Did you like it? Sorry about yet another plot change, by the way. Lucy's spells have now evolved to a new level, which is really cool. Lucy versus Gray was the main battle, so Lyon and Chelia were there for semi-filler. The StiCy will occur in the next chapter when Sting accidentally comes face to face with an opponent from Fairy Tail. Will Sting be able to beat her? Will he be saved by an unlikely ally from Lucy's book? Will the roars and bellows of lightning be a match for some electric screams? Standby for the update!**


	25. Chapter 25

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does. This story was made for fun, and not for cash. (How unfortunate.)**

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**Chapter 25: Darkness and Light Can Evolve, Too**

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While Lucy's clones of Water Magic and Wind Magic had won their battles to help Team Sabertooth defend their rank at first place in the survival tournament, the real Lucy had been walking down a quiet street in Crocus. She had seen what was going on in the battles against Gray and Lyon, making the blonde mage look a bit surprised at the fact that she had now beaten two mages and one girl who used Sky God Slayer Magic. Those fifteen points were certainly not going to go to waste in any way, and Lucy was still determined to win.

She smiled a bit while looking up at one of the Lacrima Vision screens in the sky, seeing Rogue Cheney take out Toby Horhorta and Yuka Suzuki from Team Lamia Scale with his Shadow Dragon's Roar before Yuka could try and seal away Rogue's magic, and the fact that he had defeated them would now bring ten more points to Team Sabertooth. Lucy was really glad that her comrades were not just relying on her to do everything, and she knew that Team Sabertooth was definitely not to be underestimated.

Speaking of comrades, Lucy had actually been looking for Sting. She had not seen him attack anyone, nor had he been attacked. Lucy was actually worried about her boyfriend, despite the fact that Sting could be arrogant at times, and she really hoped that he had not run into anybody who was really strong. After all, Jura and Laxus were both very strong men. They could probably defeat Sting with hardly any effort, and there were people like Gajeel who really would not waste their time to finish off Sting.

The survival tournament had been going on for half an hour now, and Team Sabertooth was not the only team that was gaining points. Ren Akatsuki from Team Blue Pegasus had managed to take out the four members of Karen's shadowy crew in Team Sweet Melancholy, having seen them fought earlier, but he looked a bit frustrated while not knowing where Karen had gone to. She wasn't the type of person who really valued pawns, especially since those girls were created from the shadows, and Karen really did not care about even winning the Grand Magic Games.

Ren had been looking pretty confident while standing alongside his four other teammates, since they now had 28 points, but the luck of Team Blue Pegasus had just run out. Before they could even react to it, Gajeel had struck them all from behind with his Iron Dragon's Roar. Natsu had also come on to the scene, looking for a pretty good fight, and he jumped into the air before using Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame to defeat Ichiya and Jenny with a large fireball. As the two explosions transpired, all five members of Team Blue Pegasus were sent flying into the air. Team Fairy Tail A now had 74 points, putting them ahead of Team Lamia Scale.

With Team Blue Pegasus now getting eliminated, as well as Team Sweet Melancholy now being down to its last member, Lucy didn't exactly look very pleased at the fact that the competition was really being narrowed down like this. She knew very well that Sting would not be able to hide forever, and someone would eventually find him. She had to get to Sting before anyone else did, especially Natsu. She knew how that dense jerk could hold grudges, and he would probably try to kill Sting when they crossed paths.

As her chances of finding Sting looked hopeless, Lucy immediately remembered a little trick. She sighed in frustration while facepalming herself, having not realized this before, and she technically had the all-seeing eye. This eye that she had was known as Dark Optica, a spell of Darkness Magic, but Lucy knew about the risks of using this type of magic. It truly was powerful, which was a proven fact, but it also made Lucy lose consciousness while it could cause something else to fight in her place. She still had no idea of Darcy's existence, you know.

Lucy did not want to use such a risky skill, but she also clenched her fists and narrowed her brown eyes while telling herself that she had to do it for Sting's sake. Even though the side effect of this spell could cause poisoning to people, Lucy knew that she had to take this chance. She opened up her spell book, which had now changed to a violet color, and she noticed that the violet text for the first spell was glowing with violet beams of light coming from the book. Had this spell changed as well?

"I call upon thee, the first spell, Dark Optica!" Lucy shouted fiercely with strong emotions, being loud enough for almost everyone in the city of Crocus to hear her and detect her location.

This spell made Lucy's eyes change from being cocoa brown, becoming amethyst purple to represent the fact that Darcy was now going to take over again, and the sky had also changed from being blue to being lavender. Everybody looked pretty curious at this change in the sky, having seen this happen once before, and they had heard Lucy's voice. They knew that she was the one causing this with her book of highly unorthodox spells that could even make someone intelligent like Hibiki Lates become confused, but where was she?

Darcy had now taken over, giggling a bit at the fact that she had now returned for another day of making her enemies suffer, and she proceeded to activate the Dark Optica spell. This move allowed Darcy to see almost everyone and everything in Crocus, acting like she had many cameras, and she also seemed to be able to see into the future. As a couple of swords came down in front of her, making her seem utterly surprised, Darcy would be even more surprised when Sting had used his White Dragon's Roar to propel himself into the air. He came down near her, however, and the white dragon slayer was accompanied by Erza Scarlet from Fairy Tail.

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She had wanted to finish their fight from the tag-team battle, the same battle where Thorn had defeated both Erza and Natsu with ease, and the scarlet-haired mage was also surprised to see that Lucy was here as well. She had heard the voice of the blonde mage, but Erza had not been able to pinpoint it to one direct spot. She now saw this as the opportunity to make up for what happened on the fourth day of the Grand Magic Games, even if a certain fire dragon slayer would not be there to help Erza even the score.

She requipped into her Heaven's Wheel Armor, one of her strongest armors, and Erza was quick enough to create at least ten swords. She sent them all towards Sting, smiling a bit while he looked like he would predictably use Holy Ray, but something strange happened. All of Erza's swords were now obliterated by violet blasts that transpired in midair, and it was all because of Darcy looking at all the swords before blinking her eyes. Her Darkness Magic had some similarities to Memory-Make Magic, but it had its differences.

Erza proceeded to requip into her Flame Empress Armor, having her Flame Sword to match, and Erza unleashed a powerful beam of flames from her sword. This beam of flames headed straight for Darcy, only to have her smirk evilly while dodging the attack. It struck a building behind Darcy, making it crumble to the ground, but she did not really seem to care. Darcy had a little plan to defeat Erza, now seeing what her battling style would presumably be, and she motioned for Sting to not get involved in this. The sky was also blue again, as Darcy quickly stopped the spell.

Darcy activated the second spell of Darkness Magic, and it was known as Dark Moonlight. This spell caused the clear blue sky to turn black like the nighttime, having the white moon replace the yellow sun, and a violet aura surrounded Lucy's body. She also lost consciousness for a few moments, not knowing that her eyes had turned amethyst purple to represent the appearance of Darcy, and she smirked deviously while a purple sphere of Darkness Magic formed in her right hand. She surprisingly shoved it in her mouth, swallowing it whole, and then Darcy began to levitate from the effects of Dark Moonlight.

As a side effect, she was able to make some gravity come down upon her brown-eyed opponent and cause massive purple blasts of energy to occur. She had great control over the gravity, manipulating it to strike many areas of Crocus, and the destructive nature of Darcy had certainly gotten everyone's attention. Even Jellal and Jura had stopped their fight, since a violet blast of energy obliterated a store behind them. Darcy was certainly not one to mess around, and she wanted to really have some fun.

"You're pretty strong, Lucy. Those spells of yours are pretty amazing, and I can't wait to see what else you can do. Let's see how powerful you truly are." Erza told Darcy while looking stern, narrowing her brown eyes at the woman who she thought was Lucy.

The amethyst-eyed girl responded while smirking a bit, giggling slightly at Erza's words, "You really should have taken me seriously from the very beginning of this battle, you know. I do not underestimate my opponents, no matter who they are, and I only care about beating them down. Also, you really should not make light of my dark abilities. The powers that I possess are really going to make you wish that we never even crossed paths today, so I suggest that you get ready for your painful defeat."

Erza really did not like the fact that Darcy had laughed at words like she was kidding around, and the scarlet-haired mage requipped into her Black Wing Armor. She was now flying through the air, ready to face her levitating opponent in aerial combat, and Erza had also requipped two long swords into her hands. These were Wind Swords, going perfectly with an armor that allowed her to fly into the skies, and Erza simply sliced the air to create massive air waves that were heading straight for Darcy.

Sting looked pretty worried about his girlfriend, thinking that it was Lucy, but then he looked pretty amazed to see Darcy smirking while she activated the fifth spell of Darkness Magic. It was known as Darkness Scale, and this spell could be used to alter a target's gravity, making it lighter for them to float high into the air, but then they would come down and cause a violet blast of energy to transpire. This spell also evolved to the point where gravity could immobilize the target while they were sent high into the air, and that's exactly what Darcy did to her opponent.

She made gravity put Erza's movements to a complete halt, rendering her immobile, and the scarlet-haired mage groaned in frustration while she could not even lift a single finger. She felt herself being carried up into the air, getting closer towards the clouds, and Erza also did not have any armors that allowed her to defy gravity. Sting had wanted to hit her with Holy Ray, but Darcy knew that any attack that hit the target before Darkness Scale was completed would end up stopping her spell. She still did not want him getting involved in this, and the fight was almost over.

With Erza high in the air, Darcy simply moved her left index finger downward to send Erza crashing down into the ground while her movements were still restricted. She screamed in pain when she hit the ground, but that probably was not as painful as the massive blast of Darkness Magic that occurred afterwards. It shook many buildings in the process, and even the judges looked shocked at the power of Darcy. The spectators also wanted to see who would end up emerging victorious in a battle like this.

When the violet smoke cleared up, it revealed to everyone that the mighty Erza Scarlet had now been defeated. She was now unconscious while her armor went away for her to automatically requip back into her Heart Kreuz Armor, and the strong woman known as Titania was now eliminated from the survival tournament. Team Sabertooth had now earned five more points, bringing them to a score of 110 now, and they still held the lead. Darcy was definitely satisfied with her performance, and she let Lucy regain control of her body.

The blonde mage regained consciousness quickly, her eyes changing from being amethyst purple to being cocoa brown, and she looked directly in front of her to see that Erza was unconscious. She had not appeared to have suffered any fatal injuries, something that made Lucy have a happy smile on her face, and the blonde mage could now technically say that she had defeated Erza once again. Lucy felt like she had definitely gotten stronger, even though her spells were only evolving to the next level, and she felt someone softly tap her on the left shoulder.

Sting told Lucy in a calm manner while she turned around to face him, being really pleased with how she battled against Erza, "Man, that battle was awesome! Lucy, you just keep getting better and better! You even embraced the power of your Darkness Magic, just like how you did in your battle against Yuka from Team Lamia Scale on the second day of the Grand Magic Games! Lucy, this is totally great! If things keep going good for us, we will be the best guild in Fiore."

Lucy responded nicely while looking into Sting's charming blue eyes, blushing a light shade of pink while she hugged him, "Sting, I've been looking everywhere for you. I just wanted to make sure that you were okay, and not defeated by anybody. I get all my courage from thinking of you and being around you, so being there for you is what I'll always do. After all, we're a pretty good team. With you at my side, I feel like there's nothing that I cannot do. Anyway, I'm just so very happy to see you right now."

The two blondes looked into each other's eyes, and they shared a kiss while feeling that being apart from each other was a bad strategy. Lucy and Sting would now take on enemies together, and their bond would definitely not be defeated by anyone. The chemistry that they had could be enough to make a Unison Raid, but both mages also knew that combining two different types of magic was something that Lucy had not been able to do yet. Could she be able to do it, if the spell book allowed it?

* * *

**Meanwhile...**

In a different part of Crocus, in front of a few fancy boutique shops, Laxus Dreyar from Team Fairy Tail A was going up against Orga Nanagear from Team Sabertooth. The lightning dragon slayer was getting ready to go up against the lightning god slayer once again, and both men were ready for this rematch. Laxus and Orga were also respectively cloaked in yellow lightning and black lightning, which would probably make this become a really shocking match for anyone to witness. Who would emerge victorious?

Orga smirked arrogantly while staring down his blond rival, and the green-haired male decided to start things off by trying to attack Laxus with his Black Lightning Sphere. This sphere was formed almost instantaneously, completely engulfing Laxus inside of it before he could even react, but the lightning dragon slayer simply broke through the Black Lightning Sphere with his Lightning Dragon's Roar. The collision of the two attacks created a black blast of lightning, which was subsequently followed by a yellow blast of lightning, but neither of the males were harmed.

The smoke quickly cleared up to reveal that the attacks had been on equal level with each other, much to Orga's surprise, and he looked a bit frustrated while charging up his Lightning God's Charged Particle Cannon to quickly end this. The black lightning in this attack could vaporize almost anything when it came into contact with solid objects, and it also had a high amount of destructive power. As Orga was building up an immense amount of power for his finishing move, Laxus smiled confidently while knowing that he was probably fast enough to evade it.

However, as Orga was finished charging up his Lightning God's Charged Particle Cannon and fired it straight at Laxus, something strange would soon give them both a shock. Orga's attack had hit something immediately, not even hitting Laxus, and the smoke quickly cleared up to reveal that one of Lucy's clones had arrived on the scene. She was carrying the yellow spell book, clearly representing the Lightning Magic that had been gained from fighting against Hikari in the amusement park, and her sudden appearance really surprised Orga.

Laxus had also seen Lucy and Sting kiss on one of the Lacrima Vision screens in the sky, right after she had defeated Erza, and he also wondered how she had gotten from one distant area to another in such a short period of time. He had not really looked at the color of her spell book, but the non-spell ability of Lightning Magic could make Lucy move at lightning speed. This clone had come all the way over here to fight against Laxus, but could she possibly win? Even with evolved spells, Lightning Magic probably would not do much to a Lightning Dragon Slayer.

"What are you doing here, Lucy? I can definitely handle this, you know. This time, Laxus is going to go down." Orga asked and told her in a rather confident manner, smirking while he saw Laxus grin at both him and Lucy.

Lucy responded in a kind manner, having a smile of courage on her face while strength had made its way into her cocoa brown eyes, "Don't worry about me interrupting your battle, Orga. I never said that I would come here to fight Laxus. I'm actually going to use my spells here, mainly because of the architecture in this part of the city. I'm not going to get myself involved in the battle that you have with Laxus, and it truly would just end up being a waste of my time to take five points from Fairy Tail."

Her unorthodox motive for being here in the survival tournament certainly made Laxus look pretty curious, and he even wondered what she was going to do while she had pulled out the Celestial Spirit Key of Loke. She opened the Gate of The Lion, summoning the orange-haired spirit, and he smiled confidently while being happy enough to assist the owner of his key with whatever task needed to be done. Loke could tell that Lucy's main focus was not directed at Laxus or Orga, so there was no need to fight.

Lucy started things off by using the Electric Curve spell, causing her to shoot a beam of lightning out of her left hand, and it headed straight for a building. When the attack hit the side of the building, it immediately made a sharp left curve to hit another building. The beam curved once again, hitting a potted plant, and it kept curving around while it hit four more objects in a perfect zigzag pattern to look like a bolt of lightning. A yellow aura also began to surround everything that had been hit, and the chain power of Electric Curve made the spell become bigger and faster. It was also stronger, too.

The large and fast lightning beam for the Electric Curve spell had propelled itself high into the air, right before it could hit the ground to make a massive blast of electricity occur, and this part of Lucy's plan is where Loke had a role. He had an important task to do, and he smiled proudly while using his Regulus Beam attack. This move made Loke release a beam of light from his ring, and he shot it straight up into the sky. He actually shot it at the Electric Curve spell, and his light was spiraling around Lucy's lightning to give it some extra power.

With that step out of the way, Lucy felt more confidence entering her heart while she began to think of Sting. She was going to win this tournament for him, definitely planning to see him smile when Sabertooth would be announced as the best guild in Fiore, and Lucy was definitely not going to lose to anyone. She planned to put an end to this, and the final spell known as Electric Vortex would definitely assist her in reaching the fine goal of achieving success. How would this electrified plan of hers work, though?

She called upon the power of the Electric Vortex spell, putting all of her emotions into it while the yellow spell book began to glow, and this move caused a massive vortex of yellow lightning to be fired straight from her mouth. It began to follow the zigzag pattern that had been created by Electric Curve, destroying every single building or object that had a yellow aura surrounding it, and every link in the chain caused Electric Vortex to grow much bigger. It also became much stronger and faster, and the attack flew upward into the air to join forces with Electric Curve and Regulus Beam.

When all three attacks had made contact with each other, fusing together to create something totally new and possibly amazing, all of the clouds in the sky became dark while they proceeded to swirl over the city of Crocus. This sudden darkness over the flowery capital of Fiore even made Jellal wonder what was going on, since he hadn't even cast Sema yet. Even Rufus looked surprised by what was happening, thinking that the battle between Laxus and Orga must've been intense, but he did not know that Lucy's clone was with them. What would be the result of her unorthodox ways?

In a few moments, at the snap of Lucy's fingers, many Electric Vortexes emerged from the sky! They were half the size of the original one, and Loke's light had caused them all to have more of a golden color instead of being yellow. Laxus and Orga could sense the tremendous amount of magical power coming from this spell, and Orga had even given it a new name. As he saw one of the vortexes hit a nearby building while causing a massive golden blast of Lightning Magic to transpire, the intense thunder waves temporarily paralyzed him and Laxus. He called this move Electrically Explosive Paralyzing Light, since it was also extremely bright.

The vortexes of electricity landed in many places throughout Crocus, creating massive blasts that obliterated whatever they came down upon, and the city was really being destroyed. None of them hit the Domus Flau where all the spectators were located, though, much to the relief of Chapati, Yajima, and Mato. Hikari had also been watching from the stands, smirking a bit while being really impressed to see the evolved lightning from the girl who had defeated her, and she unknowingly stood next to Suna. The green-haired woman folded her arms while grinning a bit, and the earth dragon slayer now knew that Lucy was truly elite to pull off a spell like this.

Some of the electric vortexes had even struck the competitors, such as Mirajane and Elfman. The white-haired woman and her brother were being painfully electrocuted by the power of this spell, and they really could not endure the ferocity of the electric vortexes. After those two golden blasts had faded away, Mira and Elfman were both unconscious. Lucy received ten more points for Team Sabertooth, bringing her team's score to 120 points now, but that was not all. Some other electric vortexes struck Cana and Juvia, nearly destroying them with the enormous power, and both girls had been knocked out. With another ten points to add to the score of Team Sabertooth, could they be stopped?

Gajeel was also hit by several vortexes of the powerful electricity, and the iron dragon slayer had been like a lightning rod for Lucy's projectiles since his abilities focused around metal. He was badly beaten down by the intense power of those three vortexes, giving five more points to Team Sabertooth. Natsu had ran into Lucy's clone who wielded the red book, but Karen had secretly dragged him down into the shadows before either side could make a move. Since the judges did not see Karen take Natsu out of the event for a moment, they gave five more points to Lucy.

Karen had used the shadows from the large blasts of light to move around quickly, and she was about to attack Laxus from behind. However, he looked stern while quickly turning around to defeat her with a Lightning Dragon's Roar. She had actually used the large shadow of some rubble to shield herself from the attack, but Karen feigned her defeat by laying down on the ground and sinking into the shadows. Her supposed defeat gave ten points to Team Fairy Tail A, and Team Sweet Melancholy was also eliminated from the event. They received second place, along with Team Fairy Tail A since both teams had 84 points, and Team Lamia Scale came in 3rd place.

After all of the electric vortexes had descended upon the city of Crocus, leaving it utterly in ruins, Lucy's clone with the Lightning Magic had closed her yellow spell book while smiling happily at what she had done. She had taken out most of her opponents with this combination of moves, and Team Sabertooth now had 140 points. The margin between first place and second place could not be narrowed down to a tie, due to not having enough competitors remaining in the survival tournament, a clear winner had been decided. The real Lucy was still with Sting, and she had dispelled her clones to officially bring the event to an end.

Chapati announced while looking completely excited and thrilled at the stunning result, "With the eliminations of Team Quatro Cerberus, Team Mermaid Heel, Team Blue Pegasus, and Team Sweet Melancholy, it looks like the winners of this year's Grand Magic Games have been decided! Team Sabertooth has won the Grand Magic Games of X792, everybody! They are the champions, and Sabertooth is now the best guild in Fiore again! What a stunning turn of events, folks! It looks like Sabertooth came back for redemption, after all! This is history to be made!"

Lucy couldn't believe it. She nearly wanted to cry from seeing the scoreboard. Her guild of the present had defeated the guild of her past, and her hard work had finally paid off. She had fulfilled her resolve to become stronger, even if her book had a few evil effects to it, and her new guild got first place in the Grand Magic Games. Words couldn't describe how she felt right now, knowing that Sabertooth had won. She had not been to the Grand Fiore League, but the equivalent of a winning guild was known as the League Champion Wizard. Had Lucy become a champion?

* * *

**30 minutes later…**

After the entire city of Crocus had been repaired with magical power to look as perfect as it always did, all of the teams were back in their respective booths. Well, one team wasn't. They were out on the sandy battlefield being congratulated by Mato and all of the judges for the five-day tournament. Sting had been smiling triumphantly while he held the golden trophy in his hands, something that made Natsu become angry at seeing, but he was silenced by Erza hitting him on the head and reminding him how he kept throwing challenges.

Sting asked Lucy while she was still looking pretty happy about the fact that they had just won the Grand Magic Games, " "So… Since Sabertooth won, I was thinking of having a party in the guild to celebrate. Would you like to be my date, Lucy? I love how you're so kind, sweet, awesome, mature, smart, and maybe you're just as strong as me. Whenever you go through darkness, can I be your light?"

She replied happily with her violet eyes twinkling as she blushed cherry red, "Of course we can have a party in the guild, Sting! I love how you compliment me so much, but don't act like I gained all this strength on my own. It was only thanks to your ways of encouragement, you know. You wanted me to believe in myself, and I did. When I use my spells or my keys, I think of you and my confidence starts to swell up like my love for you. Sting, you just continue to make me happy. I know that Thorn is my ancestor, so I would love for you to be the light to my darkness."

The two blondes shared a kiss of victory, something that made Cana and Lisanna cheer for them, and even Gray was applauding for his friend. He knew that Lucy had definitely moved on to a guy who was much better than Natsu, and the ice mage also knew that Lucy had gotten much stronger. She had only officially beaten Natsu once without any technicalities getting involved, and Gray even felt like teasing Natsu about. He planned to say one of his witty remarks to the fire dragon slayer, but Gray was shocked at what happened next.

Natsu's hands gripped the railing tightly while being engulfed in flames, and he looked pretty angry from seeing that Team Sabertooth had won because of Lucy. He was also angry that Sting was holding the trophy while kissing the blonde girl, and Natsu hated to see his blond rival breaking the kiss while caressing Lucy's cheek with his left hand. Natsu knew that he had been taken out of the survival tournament unfairly, and he thought that Lucy had done it to make him look like more of a fool than he already was.

Without even listening to the objections of Gray, as Erza and Lisanna both looked shocked at what was about to happen, Natsu jumped down on to the battlefield while flames engulfed his body. He looked pretty angry at Sting and Lucy, making the whole crowd gasp in shock while they wondered what he was going to do. Even Makarov looked annoyed by the fact that Natsu was presumably acting like a sore loser, and Gray wanted to jump down there to stop this. However, Erza grabbed his arm and gave him a stern look to let him know that they would only intervene if Lucy couldn't handle Natsu's true power.

He shouted fiercely while looking extremely volatile, as he ran towards Lucy with the flames on his fists turning fiery red, "You're going down, you stupid book-wielding bitch!"

* * *

**How was the 25th chapter? Did you like it? Sorry for not making the battle with Erza last a little bit longer, and I apologize if you wanted to see Lucy fight Laxus. However, the fighting is not over in this story and the StiCy is also not over. Anyway, what will happen when one arc ends and another one begins? What will the antagonistic Natsu do in the next chapter? Will Lucy and Sting tell him to move on? What happens when he sneaks over to Sabertooth while they're having their party? Standby for the update! **


	26. Chapter 26

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does. This story was made for fun, and not for cash. (How unfortunate.)**

* * *

**Chapter 26: Boldness, Retaliation, Surprises, and Karma**

* * *

The sight of Natsu jumping down to the sandy battlefield from the booth where Team Fairy Tail A was located had certainly came as a surprise to many of the spectators. Even his own team was shocked to see that the fire dragon slayer had made flames engulf his fists while he looked angry, and Gray had wanted to go down there to help out Lucy. However, Erza wanted to see how her blonde friend and her boyfriend would handle this situation. If they could not handle this, then Erza would feel that joining in on this was necessary.

The spectators were certainly surprised to see that someone from Fairy Tail was trying to ruin the closing ceremony of the Grand Magic Games, and some of the people on the other teams had to wonder why Natsu was doing this. His team had tied for second place with Team Sweet Melancholy, for god's sake, and Natsu should have considered himself pretty lucky to not have made the higher-ranked Fairy Tail team get a spot below third place. Seriously, what in the world was Natsu's problem? He needed a major attitude adjustment, that's for sure.

As Lisanna saw Natsu stop in his tracks while Lucy and Sting both noticed his presence, the white-haired mage gave Natsu a pretty disapproving look. He was acting like a sore loser and a spoiled brat put together, and it was really deplorable of him to be making his own guild look like a bunch of jerks who could not accept a fair defeat. Lisanna had seen how Natsu went down in the survival tournament against Lucy, having been pulled into a strange shadow while she stood across from him, but that was not breaking any rules. Lucy had not appeared to have done anything to make Natsu lose, but a loss was a loss.

On top of that, his behavior in the Grand Magic Games was really upsetting to Lisanna. Prior to the tournament, he agreed to her deal of throwing challenges and helping out Team Fairy Tail B. They would have probably won the entire tournament, and Natsu would have won Lisanna's trust back. However, he only threw one battle and did not even try to help out Mira in the event on the second day when she was being pulled into a shadow. Erza had forbid Lisanna from being in the survival tournament, but Natsu never needed an alliance with her to look anymore foolish than he already was.

The fact that he had been in a tag-team battle with Erza would definitely put a strain on him to uphold his deal with Lisanna, but she was more angry with how he acted towards Lucy in the fight. She was beating him down with her spells of Heavenly Body Magic, definitely proving her strength, but Natsu still refused to accept it like a man. He even had the audacity to knock Lucy's book and perfume out of her hands. The perfume had spilled on to the book, and Thorn had been released. At least Lisanna could thank that evil woman for giving proper karma to a dirty antagonist.

"You're going down, you book-wielding little bitch! How dare you kiss a guy like Sting! You know how much I hate that damn jerk, Lucy, and you knew that he was my rival! Do you actually think that I'll let you be in Sabertooth with a guy like him, after how you've shown so much power in the Grand Magic Games! You should just see that a weakling like him does not deserve you, you traitor, and I'll make you burn to a crisp when we get back to the Fairy Tail guild!" Natsu exclaimed angrily while looking at Lucy, before jerking her left arm and trying to pull her away from her new friends.

However, what happened next was sure to surprise everyone. Lucy freed herself from Natsu's grip, and simply inhaled all of his flames with the non-spell ability of Fire Magic in her spell book. Then, she simply burped in his face while glaring at him. She had definitely eaten all of his flames, feeling much more powerful, but she was not going to start a fight in the Domus Flau. She was not thinking about the fact that it would make her look just as uncouth as Natsu, but this was not one of the official matches.

She replied in a harsh manner to the fire dragon slayer, cold feelings of bitterness entering her cocoa brown eyes, "How dare you try to act like you own me, you stupid idiot. I don't take orders from people like you, especially since you're nothing but a backstabbing user who kept me and Lisanna from being friends. You got so much happiness from bullying me, happy that you replaced me with Lisanna to supposedly strengthen your team, and now you suddenly want me back because I'm strong and you don't approve of my new relationship? Natsu, just shut up. You're the most immature guy on Earthland, and I regret ever falling for garbage like you."

Those retaliating words from Lucy had certainly made Sting smile calmly, glad that his girlfriend knew how to not stoop to the level of a dense idiot who was really undeserving of her, and her other teammates from Team Sabertooth smiled as well. Yukino also looked happy to see her new friend stand up for herself, and the woman with light blue hair heard the applause and cheers from many people in the audience. Clearly, they also did not like how Natsu was acting like a sore loser who thought that he could have his way with anything.

Lucy's worst enemy could only growl in frustration, knowing that there was no way for him to counter that, and he was about to try and run towards her in attempt to burn her spell book into smithereens. However, Erza and Gray quickly came down from the booth where Team Fairy Tail A was located. They knew that the most important part of a battle was knowing when a person had beat their opponent or had been beaten, and they also did not want Natsu causing more of a spectacle. Hikari had secretly recorded the event on a Lacrima Surveillance Crystal, so Natsu would probably end up infamously going viral as the egotistical flaming maniac.

While Natsu was taken back up into the stands by Erza and Gray, Lucy breathed a sigh of relief while looking happy at the fact that they had been around to keep the fire dragon slayer in check. She did not want any drama to be caused today, since Sabertooth had just won the Grand Magic Games, and things seemed to be looking up for Lucy. Seeing as the members of her team had nothing better to do at the moment, and with the party being held later tonight, why not use these hours to have some fun? Relaxation was certainly better than tension, was it not? Team Sabertooth walked out of the stadium, and the other teams in the order of the rankings soon followed them from highest to lowest in the Grand Magic Games.

* * *

**30 minutes later, in Crocus...**

After doing some last-minute shopping at some of the fancy stores in Crocus, Cana and Lisanna were heading to the limo that would take Team Fairy Tail B home to the town of Magnolia for everyone to congratulate them. Even if they had gotten fourth place at the very end of the tournament, they would still be lauded for their brave efforts. They could have gotten more points and outdone the other team competing for Fairy Tail, had Lisanna's little deal with Natsu gone through. He would obviously be trying to get her back once again, since Lucy had coldly shot him down.

Lisanna just wanted the fire dragon slayer to return to how he was, become how he acted before using her to make Lucy jealous, and that was the guy who Lisanna had fallen in love with. She did not like how Natsu had become such a mean, egotistical, self-centered jerk these days, and even blackmailing him could not make him learn his lesson. The white-haired mage sighed a bit while sadly looking down at the ground, as she walked beside Cana, and things were seeming pretty hopeless in Lisanna's love life.

She had wanted to find Lucy before Team Sabertooth had left, wanting to officially be her friend, but it looked like Sabertooth's light white limo had already left Crocus. Lisanna had hoped that she would eventually run into Lucy again one day, which probably would happen at some point in the near future, and all that she could do was simply sigh about the unfortunate events that Natsu had made both of the girls go through. Lisanna really wanted him to change his ways, and she honestly had to wonder if Natsu was secretly seeing other women. If that was the case, wouldn't he be bragging about it?

While Lisanna was having her thoughts about Natsu, Cana could not stop thinking about what had happened on the fourth day of the Grand Magic Games. She and Mira had gone up against Karen and Mable from Team Sweet Melancholy, and the opponents against Fairy Tail had easily emerged victorious. However, the match that followed that one had made Cana become concerned. She was a bit doubtful of this theory at first, but it began to make some sense when she put all the pieces together in her head.

Bottles of perfume had never contained liquid that would have shadowy powers, and the dark substance in that bottle had certainly made Lucy show her darker side against Erza and Natsu. Cana could only figure that a user of shadows, either Karen or Rogue, had given that strange bottle to Lucy. Cana had never talked with Lucy during the tournament to ask her about where she had exactly gotten the bottle from, but Karen was a pretty suspicious person. She also seemed to be very strange, having used a shadow to throw Cana out of the area instead of fighting properly.

She suddenly asked Lisanna, hearing the sounds of groaning nearby, "Hey, is something wrong with your stomach? Do you need to go to the bathroom or something, Lisanna?"

The white-haired mage replied nicely while giving her friend a confused look, "Um... No. That wasn't me groaning at all, Cana. If we both heard it without actually doing it, then someone else is groaning."

Both girls slowly turned their heads to a nearby alleyway between two buildings, hearing the sounds of groaning, and it sounded like those people were regaining consciousness or something. Who in the world would be sleeping in a filthy alleyway, let alone be unconscious there? Lisanna was a bit afraid to proceed into the alleyway to check it out, not wanting to see the bloody wounded victims if a murder scene of any kind had transpired here during the tournament, and she let Cana check it out.

The brown-haired girl went into the alleyway, the sun giving her enough light for her to be able to have some vision in the trash-filled alley that had rats running through some dirty rainwater, and what Cana saw would definitely make anybody look pretty shocked. Pure amazement filled her purple eyes, finding a sight like this to be completely unbelievable, and she motioned for Lisanna to come and see what was so startling. This would either confirm her suspicions in some way, or leave more questions.

Lisanna walked into the alleyway to see the four girls from Team Sweet Melancholy, and their clothes had been shredded while they looked bloodied and badly bruised. They also looked very dirty from being in the alleyway, almost like they had been here for five days, but how was that possible? Cana saw Kira Kurono, Hiruda Saikuron, Mable Kasumi, and Haruka Furawa all looking pretty badly wounded and dirty. Lisanna looked concerned while thinking that they needed medical attention, but Kira was surprisingly able to stand up.

She slowly opened her eyes, shaking a bit while hoping that someone wasn't after her and the other girls, and she even looked scared from seeing Cana curiously eyeing her. Kira also looked to her left and to her right, really making the Fairy Tail girls look confused. Cana knew that Kira and her other team members had competed in the Grand Magic Games, being at Karen's side the entire time, so why were they acting so afraid? The other girls also smiled a bit from seeing the sunlight shine down on them, feeling it to be better than darkness.

Cana even became more confused from seeing that Mable's left eye was not light blue at all, and it certainly had not been a contact if it allowed her to shoot laser beams and do other things from it. Unknown to Cana, Karen had taken the shadows of the four girls in Team Sweet Melancholy and simply made their darker selves arise with the twist of having different types of magic. Then, she had sent the real girls into the shadows for a while to cover up the fact that she had some business with Lucy Heartfilia. After all, Karen's dark motives could not have any flaws in her strategies.

Since the tournament was now over, Karen and her shadowy team had to watch Lucy from elsewhere. She had released the real girls from the shadows on the first day, with the side effect of a move known as Shadow Timer. This move could control when an unconscious person would wake up, and Karen had set the real girls to wake up at the end of the tournament. They certainly did not know what had gone on, but they did manage to recall how they had been attacked by the shadows at high speeds.

* * *

**One hour later, at Fairy Tail…**

Erza still could not believe that Natsu would do something so humiliating to Fairy Tail, making them look like a bunch of sore losers at the closing ceremony, and she was very angry with how he was bold enough to try and make Lucy return to her former guild. Erza thought that it was the best choice to make Lucy leave, not wanting to see Natsu give her any more stress, and the blonde mage looked really happy in Sabertooth. Wendy was also there with Happy and Carla, so Erza really had no worries.

She did have worries about Natsu, however, since he had absolutely no right to talk to Lucy like that. Even on the first day of the real tournament, before the appealing event had begun, Natsu was talking trash to Lucy. Luckily, she managed to bounce it all right back at him. She did not have to put up with any form of mockery from that dense flaming idiot, and it was her choice to date whoever she wanted to date. Natsu had no control over her life, and Lucy did not want him to be a part of it.

After all, he had not shown any means of apologizing to her for all of his brash actions in the past. If he would just swallow his pride and look at this whole thing from Lucy's perspective, even for a few minutes, then maybe he would have a clear idea of how badly he had hurt her by trying to make her jealous. He had even physically abused her, verbally abused her, and he had no right to even call her weak. Lucy had beaten him when he came to look for the red book in the Sabertooth guild, and she had also beaten him in the tag-team battle.

Natsu was really nothing compared to her, and he had been acting like such a jerk to Lucy and Lisanna. He had the white-haired mage loving him for a while, until he only saw her as a tool to make Lucy jealous. Girls never liked being used by any guy, and seeing a girl as an object for a guy to please himself was a really sick way of viewing a girl. Natsu was seriously an idiot for trying to get with Lucy, especially after he had kicked her off the team in such a rude way, and he obviously knew that she was with Sting now.

He just loved to stir up so drama, and Erza really did not like that. Whether she was in Sabertooth or not, Lucy was still one of her best friends. Gray also berated Natsu for how he had been treating Lucy, since this whole thing was his fault. He was the one who caused emotional pain to Lucy, making her go through the emotional feeling of heartbreak, and that fiery idiot acted like he had done nothing. The fact that he was so arrogant made Erza think that he was almost treating this whole thing like a joke, when it was far from funny.

"You know, you are a really insensitive jerk. Natsu, why can't you just be happy for Lucy? Why did you have to go down on to the field like a sore loser, even though you mostly cost us the win? If it hadn't been for Karen forfeiting against Laxus, we would not have gotten second place! You lost fair and square, whether you like it or not, and you need to not be so immature in public! We must be the laughingstock of Fiore right now, since Lucy told you off so brutally and you froze up! You're lucky that she didn't attack you, but I will punish you." Erza lectured in a stern tone while shoving Natsu against a wall, as she became face to face with him.

The fire dragon slayer replied in a stubborn manner, wanting to have his way once again, "I could've easily taken Lucy out with no problem at all! She has no powerful spells at all, and she's no threat to me! I could've shown her stupid boyfriend how I hate losing, and I hate Sting even more! Those guys just love making me look bad, and I will show them what it means to make me lose! They're having a party tonight, and I'm going there! You can't stop me from doing what I please, and neither can Lisanna!"

Gray really wanted to punch Natsu in the stomach for being so brash, but Gajeel took care of that by angrily striking Natsu in the chest with an iron pillar after he entered the guild with Levy. The iron dragon slayer had been listening to Natsu's whining, bitching, moaning, and stubborn remarks for the past few months now. It was really starting to become quite annoying, hearing him belabor and boast about his supposed strength against a girl who was supposedly weaker than him, yet she had beaten the pants off of him every time.

Natsu looked annoyed while feeling the pain from Gajeel's attack, but he simply rubbed his own chest to heat it up and heal the injury. He did not like the fact that Lucy and Sting were becoming so much more powerful than he could ever be, and Natsu was really planning to do something pretty low. He was quite the sore loser, all right, but he was also a pretty sneaky guy when he wanted to be. He was going to pull a really low move, but could he truly get away with it? This plan of his would certainly ruin his rep even more, though.

* * *

**A few hours later, close to nighttime…**

Everyone in the Sabertooth guild had bought supplies for the party that Sting really wanted to have tonight, and they knew it was going to be a great night. With desserts like cookies, brownies, cakes, pies, chocolates, and snacks such as Doritos, Cheetos, and Pringles while having many bottles of Coca-Cola, this party was probably going to be the party of the year. In fact, Sting had even sent flyers to people in every town that surrounded Castelia. This would clearly be a great party, right?

Sting had bought an eight-layered chocolate cake that obviously had eight different kinds of chocolates making it up, and he placed it on the table that him and Lucy were sitting at. She smiled happily at the delicious chocolate cake, enjoying how sweet and sugary it looked, and Lucy simply cut a slice of cake on to her plate. Wendy also sat at the table with Lucy, and the young sky dragon slayer had given the position of guild master back to Sting. She cut a slice of cake for herself as well, and Wendy looked pretty happy.

For the party, Lucy had changed into a sky blue T-shirt with a darker blue miniskirt to match. She always loved to look fashionable for any kind of event, and this party was not exactly a formal one where she would need to wear a fancy dress. Sting also liked her choice of outfit as well, finding blue to really suit a calm and beautiful woman like Lucy, and the blue could also represent how she loved the blueness of Sting's calm eyes. They were so very charming, always making her blush, and Lucy loved having Sting as a boyfriend.

"This party is going to be the best party ever! I still can't believe that even mages from other guilds showed up here, though." Sting told her with a smile on his face, as he looked over at Lyon Vastia and Jenny Realight respectively eating some of the chocolates and drinking a bottle of soda.

"Anyone would show up to a great party that you had the idea to throw, Sting." Lucy told him with an amorous look on her face, before resting her head against his chest and sighing happily while she wrapped her arms around his neck and spoke in her sweet voice.

Sting leaned in for a kiss, as Lucy had suddenly pulled away while telling him to close his eyes, and he had wanted to feel the softness of his girlfriend's lips. However, as he heard the knife cutting a piece of the cake, Sting wondered what was going on. He thought that Lucy was going to give him a pretty sweet kiss for throwing an awesome party like this, and he instead got a different kind of sweetness from her. She stuffed a slice of chocolate cake in his mouth, and it had definitely tasted just as great as a kiss. Sting opened his eyes, and Lucy had giggled a bit at her playful trick.

* * *

**Meanwhile, outside…**

Natsu had been hiding behind a bush that was near the Sabertooth guild, hearing the loud party music blaring from inside, and he was planning to go in there and take out Lucy and Sting. Getting rid of one mage would deal a pretty big blow to the other one, and Natsu had actually thought about taking down two birds with one stone. He wanted to make Lucy pay for what had happened in the Grand Magic Games, and the fire dragon slayer had never liked it when anybody tried to talk trash to him.

He had actually been waiting for the right moment to enter the guild, since there were people talking outside and smoking as well, meaning that he could not successfully crash a party and leave without there being a few people to say that he was not invited. Out of all the guilds in Fiore, Fairy Tail was the only guild to not be invited to the party. That was mainly Natsu's fault, and Sting had thought that they would bring him along with them. He wouldn't even invite people like Cana, since she would drink down all the alcohol in a matter of minutes.

He was about to make his move, but something had grabbed on to his left leg with a tight grip. He looked frustrated while thinking that it was Gray trying to sneak up on him, possibly trying to prevent him from entering the party, but Natsu could not feel whatever was tightly gripping his leg. All that he felt was his left leg, but what was keeping him down? Master Makarov surely would not have followed him here, and Happy was not on his side anymore. As Natsu felt someone tap him on his left shoulder, he turned around quickly.

"Look, Lisanna! I know you're being all quiet back there, but you can't keep me from crashing the party! I'm going to-" Natsu shouted in a brash manner as he turned around, only to see something pretty scary.

Karen told him in a cold manner, evilly glaring at him like he was the biggest jerk in the world while she emerged from his shadow and made it constrict his leg tightly, "You will not hurt the blonde maiden in any way, you fool. You have done enough damage to her, and she does not need you in her life anymore. If you ever cause her any trouble again... No, wait. You won't cause her any trouble ever again. You have also caused trouble to Lisanna, and that's why I will make you experience suffering that is worse than any wound. Think of it as a way of killing you from the inside out, as payback for going against Lucy and Thorn."

Before Natsu could even say a thing, an extremely bright light flashed in front of his eyes. Shadows were being created instantaneously, forming the shadow of something, and the shadow slowly began to rise from the ground. It began to become a real person, having fair skin, and its blood red eyes seemed eerily familiar. The girl had purple hair that was tied into a side ponytail on the left side, and her top was lavender. Her miniskirt was black, and her high heels were in a violet color.

Natsu looked very afraid at what he was seeing, and the girl was not just any girl. It was actually the teenage form of Thorn, and let's just say that she was pretty deadly as a teenager. She giggled evilly while grabbing Natsu by his scarf, pulling him down into the shadows to send him all the way back to the guild of Fairy Tail, and Thorn actually had many smarts in her teenage form. Since Natsu was quite a user, this teenage form of Thorn's was now going to make the fire dragon slayer have a taste of his own medicine...

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**How was the 26th chapter? Did you like it? I won't reveal many details about this next arc coming up, but it will certainly be something worth waiting for. Let's just say that Thorn decides to truly help Lucy out, but she helps herself at the same time...**


	27. Chapter 27

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does. This story was made for fun, and not for cash. (How unfortunate.)**

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**Chapter 27: Lucy's Fierceness, Thorn's Flames**

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The following morning, Lucy and Sting knew they had to get back into their daily routine of training and doing jobs since they were both mages. Just because Sabertooth had won the trophy in the Grand Magic Games of X792, that did not exactly mean that anyone could just slack off. After all, the people of Fiore still needed some assistance in whatever had to be done. Things like robberies and treasure hunts could not just be passed up, you know. Some of the jobs also offered up lots of reward money in them, too.

While Lucy was ambitious and ready to take on jobs with Sting today, she surprisingly had a little bit of a thorny issue with her spell book. The black spells of Thorn's dark magic were not working, no matter how many times Lucy had recited them with strong emotions, and the blonde mage looked very puzzled as to why these spells were not working. It was true that the shadowy perfume that had activated these darker spells could have dried up by this time, since a liquid like perfume could easily dry up in two days, but why wasn't its effect still in the book?

Lucy really did not have a clue about why the black spells were not working, and all that she could really do was focus on the other seven types of magic. After all, these were the seven types of magic that Lucy had really been getting used to, and she had very strong bonds with all the lighter types of magic. Her Darkness Magic was actually starting to listen to her, by simply having Darcy do what Lucy would probably do in a tough situation, and most of the spells in the strange book had reached their evolved forms.

She had not thought about which type of magic would be used by her today, and Lucy also wondered if anything exciting would happen on her next job with Sting. Something interesting probably would happen, since almost every job that they did always had someone causing trouble or something being really mysterious. Either way, the excitement on every job was always making Lucy smile with confidence. She had always wanted to get the jobs done quickly, wanting to keep on impressing Sting, and her boyfriend had been impressing her as well.

Sting and Lucy were currently standing in front of the request board right now, looking for a good job that they could do today, but nothing seemed to look very appealing to either of them. Even though the flyers had been coming into the Sabertooth guild like several swarms of bees, most of the good jobs had been sneakily taken earlier at dawn when Sting was still asleep. He seemed pretty miffed about the fact that the people in his own guild were not patient enough to wait for him, even though he impatiently ran to Striaton City once with Lucy to try out some food at the cafe there.

"This seriously sucks. Just because the jobs get pinned to the board so early, people, don't take so much of the good stuff before me and Lucy get here. I can understand that some people might be really impatient for money, but still. They don't have to be so hasty to not even take us on missions with them, you know." The white dragon slayer told Lucy in a somewhat displeased manner while seeing that some of the jobs covering the others only had rewards of up to 1,000 jewels, which was hardly any money at all.

Lucy replied with an encouraging smile on her face, trying her best to cheer Sting up, "Don't worry about it, Sting. We can just take an easy job today while waiting for a better one to arrive tomorrow, so that would make up for our boredom today. Besides, I'm sure that some of the people just looked at the reward money on the jobs without actually paying any mind to the descriptions of the requests. It's going to end up being their own fault when they get mauled by a bear or something, so you just have to look at the upside of this whole thing."

The white dragon slayer smiled a bit while he was looking at Lucy, very happy that she was trying to lift him up when he was feeling down, and he knew that giving up was certainly not an option here. If the jobs in the front of the board were really seeming mediocre, then why not simply look past them to find something much better? Things would be hidden sometimes, not always being in plain sight like a blue bird in a flock of seagulls, and all that Sting had to really do was just look past all the easy jobs.

His blue eyes caught sight of a red flyer sticking out from behind one of the brown flyers, and Sting moved that brown flyer aside with his left hand to see the interestingly-colored piece of paper. There had never been any red flyers before, never really seen by Sting or Lucy, and they both had to wonder what this job request was all about. It had surprisingly been addressed to Lucy Heartfilia, the client requesting her presence for something, and the blonde mage curiously wondered why someone would make a request specifically for her.

While Lucy's eyes widened in shock from the fact that this person was offering up one million jewels for simply capturing a criminal, Sting reminded her that this could be a trap of some kind set up by Natsu. After all, he had been pretty upset with the fact that Sabertooth won the Grand Magic Games. At least they were playing fair while not attempting throw any challenges or be complete jerks, unlike that dense fire dragon slayer. If Lucy had known about what measures Lisanna had resorted to for Natsu to become his old self again, the two girls might've actually become friends.

Whether it was a trap or not, Lucy was definitely going to show Natsu that she was no weakling. She hoped that there would not be anyone intervening or interfering in this fight, not wanting any dark powers or sword barriers to get in the way, and Lucy's resolve to actually be the one to defeat him was certainly becoming strong. She had actually beaten him once, but he still refused to learn his lesson. Some people only realized their mistakes when they would feel the pain that they caused, and this possibility of defeating Natsu had made Lucy run out of the guild with Sting running by her side.

As Lucy was running, however, she did not notice that the purple spell book had turned red to now shift to Fire Magic. The spell book also began to glow brightly, having cherry red beams of light shining from within, and little did Lucy know that the unreadable spells of her Fire Magic were now going to become ready for her to use them. The book had now thought that she was ready to try out these new moves, but what would end up coming from them? Would they make the red section of the book become complete?

* * *

**Meanwhile, at Fairy Tail...**

Natsu had been telling everyone about how he tried to crash Sabertooth's party last night, hoping to get some recognition and have everybody in the guild cheer for his efforts, but all that he had been getting was the cold shoulder from people. They really did not want to care for him anymore at this point, and all that they could hear from his mouth was just a bunch of feces. After all, if he had certainly tried to crash such a big party, wouldn't he have made big headlines or something on Magnolia's news station?

The fire dragon slayer sat at a table all by himself, nobody even paying any mind to him or what he had said, and Natsu felt really down in the dumps about what he had done. He probably did not know it, but this was part of his ultimate karma for everything that he had done to Lucy. His conflicts with the other members of Fairy Tail had really reached their climax points, leaving no one to even feel any remorse if something ended up happening to Natsu at some point in his life, and people also had better things to do than listen to him.

He really was wishing that Lisanna still stood by his side, and Natsu also began to regret how he had treated the white-haired mage. He had really hurt her feelings by using her as a tool to make Lucy jealous, and he could not exactly have a relationship with a girl if he only cared about himself. He had put his pride of maintaining his power over his love for a beautiful girl like Lisanna, and that was certainly not okay. He really had wrecked his own relationship, and Lisanna had probably been thinking about moving on to another guy.

Lisanna had already gone out on a job with Mira and Elfman, making it currently impossible for Natsu to try and apologize. The last time he tried to say he was sorry, he ended up saying the wrong thing and made his former team members hate him even more. He really needed some help with something like this, since everything that he had tried to do on his own would always end up blowing up in his face. He just needed an ally to help him apologize properly to Lisanna, but who in the world would help him?

Suddenly, Natsu gasped a bit from seeing Cana take the seat across from him at the table. She had three mugs of beer with her as well, placing them all on the table, and the brown-haired woman was obviously planning to drink them all. She had a stern look in her purple eyes, making the fire dragon slayer wonder if he had done something to make her seem upset with him. Natsu and Cana had never really talked much, and he had to wonder why she would be sitting down at a table with the most hated guy in Fairy Tail.

The purple-eyed woman told Natsu in a stern manner, but not directing any anger at him, "I can agree with everyone that your actions in the Grand Magic Games were very immature, and you are a pretty selfish jerk for what you did to Lisanna. That was really hurtful of you to not just obey her, even if you are scared of Erza. Anyway, that's not why I came to talk with you. Natsu, I hope that you remember Team Sweet Melancholy from the Grand Magic Games. You know, that group of girls who seemed a bit shady?"

The fire dragon slayer replied calmly, looking curious as to why Cana would bring them up, "Yeah, I remember those girls. They all had those odd powers, and that woman named Karen seemed like their leader. She's pretty hot, but her way of being someone down was by throwing them out of the arena so quickly. Really, Cana, even I probably couldn't have seen that coming. She pretty much hurled you from the arena so fast, and I was rooting for you and Mira to win. Losses sure do suck, you know."

Despite looking a bit miffed at Natsu bringing up her loss to Karen, Cana had just wanted him to know that everyone was now keeping a constant watch for that woman with silvery-blue hair. She had told him how Lisanna had been with her when they found those four girls from Karen's team unconscious in an alleyway, and they had told Cana how they were attacked by shadows. Since Karen was the one on that team who had been using shadows, it was pretty obvious that she was the culprit and she had somehow made replicas of those girls appear to be her teammates.

Karen's actions had made Natsu become really puzzled, wondering why someone would do that to their own team, but Cana also looked serious while telling him that Erza just got back from the guild known as Sweet Melancholy. That guild was once known as a dark guild, but it had become a legal light guild for women only like Mermaid Heel. The guild master had confirmed with Erza that there were no files of anyone named Karen Melancholia in her guild, and pretending to be an official mage was considered to be illegal.

As Natsu continued listening to Cana explain how Karen's versatility with shadows made her a pretty fierce enemy, neither of them noticed that the shadow of the table made a thinner shadow emerge from it. This shadow detached itself from the table's shadow, and it slithered out of the Fairy Tail guild quickly for no one to notice it. It was actually Thorn Heartfilia being freed from the book, now that the seals had been broken, and she could now travel through the shadows while changing between her teenage form and her adult form. She had sensed that the book gave its new wielder some more power, and Thorn was going to meet up with Karen to see what would happen.

* * *

**In Magma City...**

Lucy and Sting arrived in a place known as Magma City, a place that could only be accessed by taking the S.S. Aqua to this city that was built on a nearby tropical island, and Magma City looked more like a resort with its white sandy beach and coconut trees. There were many malls and large skyscrapers here, and there were also some little stores here as well. Some bananas, oranges, pears, lemons, and limes could also been seen on various trees in different parts of this tropical town as well, and Lucy smiled a bit while wishing that they could be here on vacation.

Still, she was smart enough to keep her guard up in a situation like this. Even though the city looked pretty nice, somebody was obviously causing trouble somewhere. Magma City had its own set of bathhouses, too, meaning that there were definitely some hot springs on this island. Sting had been here once before on vacation with Yukino and the others last year, and they all knew that the hot springs were straight ahead from the beach. They weren't very far away, so running would not be a really big issue.

As Sting was about to start running towards the hot springs to guide Lucy to them, both mages suddenly found themselves having to dodge a beam of fire that headed straight for them from across the beach. The beam hit the sand, creating a miniature explosion, and Lucy looked a bit frustrated while seeing the hole in the sand. Attacks like that would normally not be aimed accidentally, and Lucy thought that the attack came from the infamous Natsu Dragneel. Would he really be stalking her all the way to this island?

The blonde mage looked straight ahead to see that her fiery attacker was surprisingly not Natsu, and it was a woman. She had wavy red hair, and this woman also had fair skin as well. he wore a sleeveless, ankle-length red dress with a pleated black skirt. The chest was adorned by a large, orange bow, and similarly colored trimmings framing the rather ample neckline, acting as straps, and they circled around the waist. This woman also wore some red high heels, making her look even more fashionable.

Lucy asked her in a stern tone, narrowing her cocoa brown eyes at this woman, "Who are you, and why did you just attack us like that? Are you the criminal that we have to apprehend?"

The woman responded while smirking evilly, giggling a bit with arrogance in her blue eyes, "My name is Bureizu Rubyfire, and you must be the mages who are here to defeat me. I simply enjoy causing trouble for a living. It's quite fun."

Upon hearing her words, Lucy tightly clenched her fists. It was very wrong to hurt mages and innocent people, so this arrogant villain was going to get a taste of Lucy's new powers. The blonde mage looked back at the small hole in the sand, seeing Bureizu's level of attack power to be pretty simplistic, and Lucy quickly proceeded to open the red spell book. She was planning to end this battle in one shot with one of her newly evolved spells, but then Lucy noticed that the cherry red text for the ninth spell began to glow.

This spell was known as Flame Ball, and it caused a ring of flames to surround Bureizu's feet. The ring of flames quickly turned into a sphere of fire, and it exploded in a massive blast of fire! Lucy quickly inhaled all of the flames, not wanting to cause problems for any innocent bystanders on the beach, and she looked at the slowly parting black clouds of smoke. Lucy was impressed by the power of this new spell, but what would happen next would certainly not impress her in a happy manner. Bureizu hadn't survived that attack, had she?

When all of the smoke cleared up, Lucy and Sting both looked shocked to see that their opponent had survived that massive attack. On top of that, she only had minor injuries from taking Lucy's ninth spell directly. Clearly, Bureizu was not to be taken lightly. She had orange wave matter surrounding her hands, and Bureizu looked pretty arrogant while explaining that her fire attacks were infused with Bomb Magic. She could simply shield herself from blasts by creating explosive defenses, and those explosions could also be used offensively.

She was merely giving Sting and Lucy a little threat by making that small hole earlier, and they had thought that simple attack was the overall strength of her power. They were wrong to underestimate her, and Bureizu informed them that her Bomb Magic and fire attacks were the deadliest combination that anyone had ever created. She generated a larger amount of wave matter in her hands, firing it at Sting this time, but he simply canceled it out with Holy Ray. His attack had not broken through hers at all, since it exploded so quickly.

Ignoring that explosion, since it hadn't hurt Sting, Lucy tried out one of her spells that she knew better. The blonde mage used the Magma Liquid spell, causing her to unleash six blobs of red goop from her mouth, and they all headed straight for Bureizu. However, the criminal simply laughed while making her orange wave matter for her Bomb Magic take the form of six rectangular shields in midair. Lucy's spell collided with the shields, and six more explosions transpired once again. This battle was locked in a stalemate, was it not?

Sting shouted in a fierce tone while looking somewhat irritated by the fact that this battle was not getting anywhere, "Man, this chick is really giving us a challenge! Lucy, you know, those spells evolved and changed like when your emotions rise to a point where the normal power of the spells can't contain your massive surge of feelings! Don't forget this important piece of advice, okay? The book does not wield you, but you wield it. You're the master of that book, so you tell it to stop messing around and give us an opening!"

She replied calmly while panting a bit, "Even if I make a new spell of Fire Magic, Bureizu's Bomb Magic would just cancel it out with an explosion. If only that fire could just absorb the explosion, then everything would be-"

At that moment, Lucy widened her cocoa brown eyes in shock at her own words. What she had just said was exactly what she needed from the tenth spell, and Lucy had to make it with the combination of her mental energy and her emotional energy. If she could visualize the attack in her mind while strengthening it with her emotions, then there would be nothing to really worry about. After all, the book was infused with Molding Magic for its wielder to make whatever they currently had in mind.

The blonde mage calmed herself while exhaling some air, and she began to focus on the power of the flames. Fire represented pure fierceness, and Lucy called upon her fiery drive to win this battle. A red aura began to surround her body, allowing her to feel more power than ever before, and Lucy imagined exactly what this finishing move would be like. She glared straight at Bureizu, and Lucy held the red book in her left hand. The next two lines of words began to glow cherry red, radiating brightly with fierceness, and the tenth spell had been written.

This move was known as Flaming Fierceness, and it caused Lucy to shoot out ten large fireballs from her mouth. The fireballs matched the size of Natsu's attack that was known as Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame, and Lucy instructed all of her fireballs to attack Bureizu right now. They headed directly for the villain, intent on striking her down, but she made her orange wave matter surround each fireball. Bureizu laughed in a cocky manner while thinking that her Bomb Magic was completely unstoppable, but what happened next would definitely shut her up.

Lucy's fireballs absorbed the bomb waves, doubling in size while taking in the high amount of power that would have been in Bureizu's explosions, and the red-haired woman gasped in shock from seeing that her explosives had now been used against her. Flaming Fierceness could absorb any explosive or blast-making move, and it could make its fireballs grow in power. It was more like the older sibling to Fiery Embers, only not being as nice. Bureizu now tried to run away, looking pretty shocked, but all of the fireballs struck her simultaneously.

A tremendous explosion of fire occurred, the noise rattling several buildings on the island, and many people covered their ears while screaming in pain from the sound of the fiery explosion affecting their eardrums. Many bystanders on the beach ran away quickly, not wanting to get burned, and Lucy inhaled the entire inferno of flames. The attack would have ended in a pretty huge blast, but the explosive properties of Bureizu's Bomb Magic had certainly altered the result. Quite interesting to use the enemy's moves for a wicked combo, right?

Sting told Lucy in an excited manner, having never seen her Fire Magic be so thrilling like that while the smoke cleared up to reveal that Bureizu was unconscious and charred, "Man, that was awesome! Lucy, that was one of the best combos ever! Seriously, they should really change that old saying. If you can't stand the heat, don't mess with my girlfriend named Lucy Heartfilia."

The blonde mage responded happily while blushing, as she quickly looked down at her red T-shirt and blue jeans to make sure that no fire had gotten on her clothing, "I'm sure you'll be the only one who uses that saying, Sting. You really should be thanking yourself, not me. I was only able to make that spell because of your helpful advice. Not only are you a good boyfriend, but you're also a great teacher. I love you so much, Sting."

Lucy wrapped her arms around Sting's neck while she looked into his charming blue eyes, and she gave him a warm kiss on the lips to thank him for helping her out with such great flames. It was also her way of making up for what happened at the party, since she had put cake in his mouth instead of kissing him, and her lips certainly felt really warm to Sting. He knew that she loved him enough to kiss him with so much bliss, but the Fire Magic certainly warmed it up enough to feel really hot like how Lucy looked. With their business done here, Lucy and Sting quickly boarded the S.S. Aqua to sail all the way back to Castelia Town.

* * *

**Meanwhile, in a hot spring in Magma City...**

Karen relaxed in the hot water of a hot spring in Magma City, and she was currently alone while not wearing any clothes. She had been washing herself with some soap, scrubbing her body in a very gentle manner, and the woman with silvery-blue hair enjoyed how the hot water was kissing her skin. She looked really content right now, blushing while the shadows assisted her in washing her private areas, and Karen also began to have a pretty evil smile on her face when she was sensing something.

Bureizu's magical power had faded away, meaning that she was now dead, and the arrogant woman was sinking into the shadows. Karen had actually broken her out of prison, wanting her to test Lucy's new abilities, but Bureizu was clearly only good enough to handle two fusion spells. However, that did not really matter to Karen. A weak pawn was nothing more than a piece that needed to be sacrificed when the master of the game saw no more use for it, and Lucy could make other fusion spells of Fire Magic on her own time.

The woman of shadows had also let Thorn know that she was now free from the book, free to try and recreate the plan that occurred several centuries earlier, but they had a few obstacles in their path. After all, the mages in this time were not as unaware of who Thorn Heartfilia was. Mostly everyone had heard of her, including Zeref, but Thorn was only seen as a mere legend nowadays. She had indirectly been resurrected by Natsu's bullying of Lucy, and the emotional rage inside of the blonde mage had actually caused Thorn to come out.

As Karen began to think about what her next move should be with Lucy, she looked directly across from her to see a black shadow taking the form of a puddle in the water. Thorn rose up from it in her adult form, not wearing any clothes because she was now in a hot spring, and she smirked viciously while letting her left hand gently touch some of her hairs that had been highlighted red. She walked through the water, before sitting down next to her best friend Karen, and Thorn looked like she was in the mood for some sadistic fun.

"Well, you seem to be excited about something. I've never seen you look so thrilled, Thorn." Karen told her in a calm manner while smiling, her silvery-blue eyes having a relaxed look in them.

Thorn responded in a sadistic tone, her blood red eyes being filled with thoughts of malice, "You're the one who should be enjoying the thrill of the chase, Karen. It seems like you can't sneakily work in the shadows forever, since the fairies found out about your little trick in the tournament. Now they'll all be after you, but I would never let them get to you or try to tell Lucy that I truly exist. However, that boy named Natsu is going through a rough time. I think that playing with a heart as conflicted as his for a while in my teenage form should let me know everything I can about him and the current mages of Fairy Tail."

The evil woman with black hair had not actually told Karen all of her true intentions, but she could feel that Lucy had now unlocked the level of the most powerful flames that Thorn once had. If she could unlock all seven, as well as having them pushed to her full potential, Lucy would probably be almost invincible. However, the fusion spells of Thorn's shadows could get her whatever she wanted. She was going to let Lucy help her by getting that book completed, and she would also help herself by making sure to keep Fairy Tail in check if they ever tried to go against her...

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**How was the 27th chapter? Did you like it? Lucy now has an advanced level of spells, but don't worry. She will only get four of them for every type of magic, since Thorn can also use them and add them to the book whenever she pleases. The StiCy will continue to improve, and the NaLi fans will finally get to see how Lisanna can have major determination as well. Someone gets dropped from this story as well, so standby for the update!**


	28. Chapter 28

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does. This story was made for fun, and not for cash. (How unfortunate.)**

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**Chapter 28: Fiery Manipulation**

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The next day, Sting and Lucy were sitting at a table in the Sabertooth guild while having some plates of waffles covered in maple syrup for their morning breakfast. They had planned to train hard today, but none of the jobs looked promising in terms of rewards or having the potential to be dangerous and exciting. Sting had already checked the board before him and Lucy had gotten some breakfast, and the white dragon slayer still could not believe that the people in his own guild were leaving him with leftover jobs.

He even thought about going over to the guild of Fairy Tail to look for some decent jobs to do, but then Sting pushed that thought aside while he knew that there was the possibility of Natsu being there today. He did not want to get into any kind of drama with that idiotic guy, and the other members in the Fairy Tail guild may not be so kind to see people from Sabertooth walking into their guild to take jobs from their request board. Still, with all the hate directed at Natsu, could anyone besides him possibly hate Sting?

Speaking of people who were able to wield flames, Sting was still very impressed by how Lucy had beaten Bureizu on the island yesterday. Those two new spells that she used were known as fusion spells, moves that were on a higher level than the primary eight moves of each type of magic, and Sting had noticed how the fusion spells were much more powerful than the basic eight moves that Lucy was able to use. She could probably make a few more of those awesome fusion spells, but she would still need lots of magical power.

Fusion spells required much more energy, even needing more power than the eighth spell of every type of magic, and Sting had noticed how Lucy nearly passed out after they went to her room on the ship known as the S.S. Aqua. The non-spell ability of Fire Magic, however, allowed her to inhale some candle flames on a chocolate cake that was on the food cart. Lucy had felt revitalized, which was a good thing, but the fact that she had passed out was a sign to Sting for him know that enemies could not be underestimated and toyed around with now.

Also, in order to use fusion spells to their highest amounts of power, him and Lucy would have to be in an area where she could easily refill her magical power with the non-spell ability that went perfectly with the type of magic that she was using. For example, she could recharge her Lightning Magic in a place that was like a power plant. It would certainly help Lucy become stronger, and her spells would become stronger as well. This was certainly a great strategy for dealing with enemies, and Sting smiled a bit while seeing no flaws in his plan at all.

"Even though all of the best jobs on the request board have already been taken again, let's not be down because of that. Sting, we could just use this as a simple day of training for us. After all, that battle yesterday really showed me that I need to work on my skills some more before we decide to take on anymore criminals. Bureizu could have only been a slight taste of how tricky these next few enemies can be, so we'll have to be pretty cautious." Lucy told her boyfriend with a happy smile on her face while blushing, before cutting her waffles with a knife and fork.

Sting replied in a calm manner, grinning a bit while confidence made its way into his charming blue eyes, "Don't worry about a thing, Lucy. You're right, though. We do need to work on your spells, and we have to get your amount of magical power up to a higher level. We can definitely train today, and I will definitely help you turn that Fire Magic into something that would leave Bureizu and Natsu speechless. Your flames just need to be hotter like you are, and they need a nice ignition for them to blaze past anybody."

Lucy giggled a bit from hearing Sting's funny puns about her Fire Magic, always liking the many jokes that he could make about whatever was in her book, and he had even once said that her Wind Magic would be pretty useful for defeating enemies behind her by having Lucy break wind. He also let her know that the Water Magic in her spell book would never leave anyone thirsty while they were getting attacked by it, but Lucy had playfully told him that her Water Magic made some real blasts instead of a total splash. (I know my puns might be corny, but don't judge me.)

With Sting both set on improving this Fire Magic, wanting it to be at its best, where in the world could they go to test it out? Asking Natsu for any help at all would be like dealing with an explosive drama queen, and they certainly did not want to have to go through anything else with him. There had to be a pretty great place with some fire for Lucy to eat, and it could not just be somebody's campfire. It had to be large amounts of fire, a place that would be like an amazing kingdom of flames, and it also needed to be pretty hot.

Suddenly, a pretty good idea entered Sting's mind. He knew that neither himself or Lucy could win in a fight with power alone, and that appealing event in the Grand Magic Games had really given people a chance to show off their skills while making them look pretty good as well. If Lucy could make her spells look great while giving them some high amounts of power, then she would have nothing to worry about. Every good mage did need a sharp sense of creativity in their moves, after all. Being simple would lead to getting nowhere, right? With this great idea causing Sting to maintain his confident grin, he focused on finishing his breakfast while waiting for his girlfriend to finish hers as well. Whatever he had planned, it would certainly be brilliant.

* * *

**Meanwhile, at the Fairy Tail guild...**

Wanting to put her plan into action, Thorn had now entered the Fairy Tail guild in her teenage form. She had her purple hair down while trying to not look suspicious, and she simply had a happy look in her eyes that were red like blood. She wore an orange top with a yellow miniskirt to match it, wanting to definitely look like any other girl who wanted to join the second-best guild in Fiore, and her act would probably work. Since everyone was on high alert for Karen, Thorn would not really be such a big issue at the moment.

She scowled a bit while looking around in the guildhall, remembering how Mavis had made her erase the guild insignia of Fairy Tail from her body, and Thorn was intent on getting her revenge against the place that had ousted her. She had been such a successful mage back then, completing all of her jobs without any problems arising, but it was still frustrating to know that she had been kicked out of Fairy Tail in the end. Thorn had been one of the strongest people in the guild, and she was also an S-Class mage.

However, with her past life now behind her, Thorn was only focused on her plan to annihilate Fairy Tail. While she knew that Lucy would definitely be getting stronger, Thorn also knew that she could also create spells that would be sent to her glorious book as well. She would be indirectly doing a collaboration with her descendant, and the woman of darkness would be proud when the book became completed. While she would call it the beginning of the world in a darker atmosphere, some people might call it the complete ruin of the world.

As Thorn scanned the guildhall with her blood red eyes, she knew that a strategy had to be made for this little guild to be in quite a panic. It was simply like playing a game of chess, you know. If she wanted to win against the guild that had excommunicated her, then Thorn simply had to eliminate some of its pieces. Some people would prove to be more challenging than others, but every good antagonist needed to start somewhere. Of course, if she was to stay in disguise, she would need an ally to stand by her side and turn the guild members against each other when the time came for it.

She spotted Natsu Dragneel sitting at a table by himself, pretty much doing what he did every day, and the depressed look on his face was enough to make anyone leave him alone. Even Lisanna had not been talking to him today, believing him to still be the insensitive jerk who tried to make Lucy feel jealous because he wanted to bully her, and Natsu let out a depressing groan while slamming his head down on the table. His head was hard enough to rattle the table, shaking his large cup of hot chocolate, but Thorn had used the shadows to hold up the cup before it could fall over. As Thorn proceeded to walk over there, she was startled by Mira's sudden appearance.

"Hi, there! My name is Mirajane Strauss, and I'm one of the barmaids in the Fairy Tail guild. I'm also Master Makarov's assistant, so I can help you with whatever you need. Are you an interviewer for Sorcerer Magazine, or would you like to join our guild?" Mira asked in a polite manner while smiling at Thorn, after introducing herself to the girl with violet hair.

Thorn responded calmly with a few lies of deception, despite looking more freaked out than manipulative by how nice Mirajane was to her, "I would definitely like to join the guild known as Fairy Tail. I actually rooted for you during the tournament, and it's a real shame that Fairy Tail lost by such a wide margin. I'm sure that my powers could definitely take your guild to the top, and it would certainly never come crumbling down into the dust."

Upon hearing Thorn's supposed words of enthusiasm, Mirajane could only smile at the fact that the Fairy Tail guild would be getting a new member. She had already gotten the Fairy Tail stamp and the color kit from the counter, just in case Thorn had indeed been wanting to join the guild, and Mira had happiness in her blue eyes while asking Thorn about what color the insignia should be. Thorn calmly let her know that she wanted the guild insignia on the back of her left hand, and she wanted it to be violet like her hair. Mira happily understood that, and she now made Thorn technically become a reinstated member of Fairy Tail.

As the white-haired woman curiously wondered about what Thorn's name was, since that had not come up at all during the conversation, Thorn simply let Mira know that her name did not need to be spoken in such a public setting. She deliberately misled the older Strauss sister to believe that her name sounded slightly similar to a swear word, and Thorn did not want anyone making fun of her for it. Understanding her situation, Mira simply walked away with a smile on her face while being happy about a new person joining the guild.

With that interruption now out of the way, Thorn was now back to what she needed to do. She was going to gain the trust of Natsu, and what better way was there to play someone than by playing with their emotions and getting them on her side? She was going to make a pawn like him become pretty useful in her game of chess, at least until she found it necessary to throw him out when she no longer needed him to be her puppet. On top of that, he was so sad right now from beginning to realize that it was all his fault that he lost Lisanna's interest in him.

Natsu did look pretty sad while drinking his hot chocolate, and he was experiencing the depressing feeling of guilt right now. His actions had not only made him lose Lisanna, but they had given him such a bad rep with almost everyone in the Fairy Tail guild. Being a total jerk to Lucy, only wanting Lisanna to show her off, choosing his pride over a woman, and wanting to steal Lucy from her boyfriend just to bully her were definitely on the list of things that had made the fire dragon slayer become really infamous. As he drank his hot chocolate, Natsu looked pretty curious when he quickly looked up from his cup to see a new girl sitting across from him. She smelled like red roses, which was pretty sweet for someone who was so evil.

"If Lisanna has been telling you bad things about me, then go ahead. You can laugh at me everyday, if you want to. I'm Natsu Dragneel, the fire dragon slayer. Right now, I'm not so fired up. I acted like a total jerk to all my friends, and nothing can fix what I did. They'll hate me forever. I was so arrogant and prideful, putting myself before my own girlfriend, and apologizing to her is useless because it always blows up in my face." Natsu told Thorn in a gloomy tone, before going back to drinking his hot chocolate.

Thorn replied nicely while still maintaining the cheerful look in her blood red eyes, as she blushed a little bit, "I don't know who Lisanna is, and I just got here. You looked really sad, and I thought that you might need to talk with someone new to get rid of your worries. My name is Thorn, and I think that I have a way to help your reputation. You just have to work with people on jobs, and show them that you're not a jerk at all. Once they see how helpful you can be on missions, you will definitely be forgiven."

Upon hearing those words and seeing the nice smile on Thorn's face, Natsu knew that he had finally found a new partner to make Team Natsu become a team once again instead of being a solo act. The fire dragon slayer couldn't help but have a goofy grin on his face, and he seemed even happier when Thorn pulled him over to the request board to look for a job. She quickly chose one, a specific job that the shadows had put up while Thorn distracted Natsu to keep him from paying any mind to what had been going on behind, and Thorn ran out of the guild with her important pawn.

While she was running, however, Thorn did not notice that Elfman and Evergreen had seen her run out of the guild with Natsu. They found it really uncouth of Natsu to be running off with another woman, from how the situation looked to them, and Elfman knew that a real man always had to protect a woman from getting her heart broken by a guy who was seen as nothing more than a backstabbing user who would do anything just to make himself look good. Upon remembering what Natsu had done to Lisanna in the shower, since it was seen on the break day of the Grand Magic Games, Evergreen also found it necessary to protect another girl from being defiled by a guy like Natsu. Both of the mages ran after Natsu's team, but they did not know that Natsu was not the manipulator for once.

* * *

**Elsewhere, in Makarov's office...**

Gray had come to see Makarov about an important matter, and the ice mage had wanted to do his part in the situation. Cana and Lisanna had told him about how Karen had made impostors of the four girls in Team Sweet Melancholy, and Gray had remembered seeing that woman with the silvery-blue hair. She had come from the shadows to take Darcy away, after the violet-haired girl had laid a beating on Juvia and Gray without even really breaking a sweat, and Gray had been wondering who that woman was.

He had never thought of that woman as being evil, seeing her more as suspicious, but he was not here to talk with Makarov about Karen Melancholia. Gray was actually here to discuss the matter of the spell book wielded by Lucy, the blue book that she had used when they fought in the library during the survival tournament on the final day of the Grand Magic Games, and he had been very intrigued by it. Ever since he had seen the tag-team battle where Natsu got his butt kicked by both Thorn and Lucy, Gray had to wonder if that book was the one that went missing from Fairy Tail.

Gray had asked Makarov in a calm tone, hoping for some answers about that strange book, "Master, if you don't mind me asking, could you please tell me about the book that went missing from Fairy Tail? It's really important to our guild, right?"

Makarov responded in a kind tone while smiling a bit, before stretching out his right arm to gently pat the ice mage's head, ""Well, I suppose it would be all right to tell you about the book. It was created back in the X600s when the First Master was the guild master of Fairy Tail, and that book was made by a mage named Thorn Heartfilia. The history books consistently say how she was an exceptional sorceress for Fairy Tail, having mastered the eight forms of the infamous types of Demon Magic, and that magic was rumored to be lost forever."

"You're saying that the book that went missing from here is filled with all of her spells, Master? Well, what color is the book?" Gray asked curiously while looking a bit stern, hoping that the book Lucy had was not the one that Thorn used to have.

"Yes, it's filled with all of the extremely powerful and restricted spells that she created from using the blood of demons that she defeated. She used their blood as ink to write the spells whilst putting many abilities into that book, such as how it reacts to emotions and unlocks spells for its master when necessary. She wrote the spells for each type of magic in eight different languages of olden times, words that we do not use today. She even gave unorthodox curses to the book, such as altering the spells to coincide with the heart, emotions, and wishes of its master. As for the color of the book, I can't tell you. The stories vary on that, and it's hard to tell facts from the myths." Makarov continued, remembering what had been said about this woman from many history books.

Gray looked astounded to know that someone would put all those spells and curses into a book, especially by the fact that a spell book could choose its master. On top of that, she created spells from the abilities of the demons she had defeated. He had to admit that Thorn was impressive, but the fact that the color of the book changed so much had made Gray think that Thorn's book had actually split into eight separate books because of some kind of curse. Well, that would explain why Lucy had an orange book at one time instead of a blue one. Had the bookstores been selling them? (I know that Gray's assumption is way off, but it's mostly for some humor to this serious discussion.)

The ice mage asked out of curiosity, wanting to go further into the mysteries of the book, "Well, what happened to Thorn? Did she die, but leave her book here for someone to find it?"

"Well, Mavis had seen the vicious and destructive power of her spells. She didn't want such evil in Fairy Tail, so Thorn was kicked out. It can presumed that she didn't take kindly to that, since the legends speak of the earth roaring and shaking while lightning and darkness came down upon Fiore. The heavens descended in a cataclysm, the winds caused destruction, the seas raged with coldness, and great storms of fire nearly caused the end of the rest of Earthland. Her beauty was like a sweet-smelling rose, but her dark personality certainly did put a few thorns on the beauty of Thorn. She was killed by Mavis using Fairy Glitter in their showdown that decided the fate of the world. However, Thorn's book survived. The light of Fairy Glitter created shadows, perfect for Thorn's spirit to merge into. It's assumed that the black spells were made from that happening, and they are how she lives on. Her book won't work for anyone, however. The rumors say that only the one who unseals the book can use it." Makarov explained sternly to Gray, not telling him that Natsu was beaten down in the tag-team battle by the darkness of Thorn.

After all, the guild was rowdy enough as it is. Makarov had never thought that the dark power of Thorn would have been awakened, and he had never imagined that the book's seven seals would eventually break. Those seals had been used to keep Thorn in check, keeping her evil powers shackled down, and those were known as the Seven Good Elements of Purity. The Eighth Element of Impurity was Thorn's darkness, and it was also known as Shadow Demon Magic. She was not necessarily taught by a demon, but she certainly had the powers of one.

* * *

**Inside of a volcano...**

Lucy and Sting had arrived at a volcano known as Reversal Mountain, and they had gone down through the mountain's entrance to the first underground floor. The interior of this volcano was filled with magma, clearly stating to anyone that it was an active volcano right now, and that was perfect for Lucy to improve her Fire Magic. With all of the magma flowing within the volcano, along with some pools of bubbling lava that was sure to be flaming hot, this was definitely the place for anyone who could take the heat.

Sting had known that this place would really help Lucy improve her Fire Magic, and he simply stayed on the staircase of rocks leading up to the entrance while Lucy walked towards one of the bubbling pools of lava. She used her non-spell ability of Fire Magic to inhale some of the lava, feeling how burning hot the volcanic lava could be, but she swallowed it to gain more energy. It did not damage the blonde mage's body at all, since the book converted all of that lava into magical power, and a red aura surrounded Lucy's body.

She stretched her arms out, having both hands next to each other with her palms facing outward, and Lucy looked pretty fierce while calling upon her emotions as she opened the red spell book once again. Lucy narrowed her cocoa brown eyes while imagining the third fusion spell of Fire Magic in her mind, but she also knew that power would not be enough for a fusion spell to be really effective. The spells had to look their best as well, and using them in an appealing manner would also make Lucy feel pretty proud of herself.

The blonde mage decided to test out a new spell that was known as Fire Demon's Blazing Flowers, and its effect sounded pretty cool to Sting. He liked how this spell seemed like one of Lucy's trump cards, something that could make villains laugh at a first glance but then be begging for mercy in a matter of seconds, and the white dragon slayer had to wonder what would come out of it. He noticed that Lucy looked like she wanted to let out a burp of some soda that she had gotten on the way to Reversal Mountain, but what came out was completely different from gas bubbles.

Lucy unleashed a powerful beam of spiraling red flames from her mouth, and the beam immediately took the form of a large ring of fire in midair. The flames were dancing around in the ring, and they also had the interesting effect of making fireballs jump out of the lava to jump through the fiery ring. With each ball of fire that came through the ring, the flaming ring divided itself. If three fireballs jumped through the ring, three rings of fire would now appear in midair. Lucy could command them to go up, go down, and even tilt. They could burn through anything that they thought, and those three rings had actually multiplied the explosiveness of the spell when Lucy commanded the rings to detonate.

An enormous explosion of fire transpired within the mountain of magma, but Lucy quickly inhaled all of the flames to make sure that Sting would not get hurt. The sound of the explosion shook some of the rock walls, and the Fire Magic had greatly combined with the hot lava to give Lucy a pretty great boost in power. She smiled happily at the fact that she had made her third spell of Fire Magic look pretty good, but the flames had actually come more from Thorn's power. These were known as her four trump cards, and Lucy had filled in the space for the third one.

Sting told Lucy in a calm manner, as he saw the red aura go away from Lucy's body for the Fire Magic to possibly recharge, "It wasn't much training, but that spell looked pretty good. It looks like you could use it offensively, defensively, and for when you probably have to get large blocks of ice out of your way. Besides, let's see what your other spells can do when you get that aura back."

Lucy replied nicely, as she looked curious when she saw that her hands were no longer engulfed in the red aura, "Maybe these fusion spells just need me to eat enough lava for them to be used in succession instead of just relying on my emotions and magical power."

* * *

**In some ancient ruins...**

Thorn and Natsu had taken a job that supposedly involved capturing a criminal in the ancient ruins near the Desert Resort where Lucy had defeated Suna, but this was actually the first of Thorn's traps for getting rid of Fairy Tail. She had led Natsu here to get him distracted, and the ruins were actually pretty confusing. Taking one path inside of these ruins led to a crossroad of paths, and choosing a path would be pretty difficult. However, Thorn was pretty sure that the first step of her plan was going to succeed.

She had saved Natsu from a few quicksand traps in these ancient ruins, and Thorn had also informed Natsu that she was able to eat flames like he could. Natsu had been providing light for himself and Thorn in the ruins by making flames engulf his fists, giving her a great source of light, but the violet-haired girl had used the Magma Liquid spell, to make some explosions transpire. Their fire gave Thorn something beautiful to look at while she walked through the ruins with Natsu, and the sounds of her explosions had certainly caught the attention of Elfman and Evergreen.

Those two Fairy Tail mages were tailing Natsu's duo from behind, not wanting Thorn to be a victim of Natsu's manipulation, and Elfman hoped that Natsu would be enough of a man to actually let Thorn know how much of a bad guy he truly was. Evergreen also looked stern while noticing that Natsu was trying to hold Thorn's hand. He probably did not even realize it, but his hands did tend to get in many places. Natsu was also wondering how far they would have to walk in these ruins, since they had been walking for a pretty long time now.

As the fire dragon slayer was about to turn a corner, Thorn looked pretty serious while grabbing his left arm with her right hand. She had actually known that Elfman and Evergreen were following them, most likely wanting to see where Natsu would be taking the new girl, and Thorn could not let them find out that she was actually the one in control of Natsu right now. She was the one taking him on their little "date" through the ruins, but the fact that some uninvited guests were here was actually a cause for celebration.

The violet-haired girl quickly turned around to use her Fire Magic to create seven fiery rings in midair, making a straight chain line with them, and this was part of her fourth fusion spell. She proceeded to look scared while telling Natsu that she heard the criminal's footsteps coming from behind, meaning that the supposed villain was following them, and the fire dragon slayer immediately looked angry while telling Thorn that no one would lay a finger on her. He unleashed his Fire Dragon's Roar, making the beam of fire be unleashed from his mouth, causing both Evergreen and Elfman to look shocked.

"Natsu, what in the world are you going to do to her?! We're not criminals, you idiot! A real man doesn't use my sister to make anyone jealous to bully them, so you can save your explanations for someone who cares to-" Elfman exclaimed angrily to Natsu, wanting to get back at him for what he had done to Lisanna, until the fire shut his mouth.

Natsu's attack grew exponentially in size, as it passed through every ring of fire, and it was also growing in power as well. The Fire Dragon's Roar had now turned into a massive beam of fire, something that even Elfman's Lizardman Take-Over could not endure, and the speed of the attack was unbelievable. Elfman thought that he was going to get hit for sure, until he suddenly heard Evergreen scream in pain from being hit by the powerful attack. It completely consumed Evergreen, burning her with Thorn's devilish heat majorly involved in the attack, and Thorn knew that there was no way for anyone to survive that.

Elfman knew that he had to save Evergreen, and he looked pretty intent on doing that while rushing into the path of the beam while he grabbed his brown-haired partner. They were both feeling the intense pain from Thorn's heat, and the beam crashed straight into the wall before creating a large explosion of fire! It made a gaping hole in the ruins, before letting some more major parts of the wall crumble, and Natsu could only look utterly shocked at the fact that he had just annihilated his own nakama with an incredibly powerful spell.

"Elfman... Evergreen... What the hell did I do?!" Natsu shouted angrily while clenching his fists, tears starting to well up in his eyes.

Thorn thought to herself while standing behind Natsu, smirking evilly before going down into his shadow for him to have no evidence of blaming her, _"Natsu, you simply trusted me and helped me unleash Fiery Ring Chain. It powers up other spells of Fire Magic, making them go in for the kill. That's two pests down, and only a few more to go."_

* * *

**How was the 28th chapter? Did you like it? I apologize for not having Elfman or Evergreen put up a big fight, but let's just say that they only got a taste of Thorn helping Natsu. However, the attack did not kill them. It merely sent them blasting off like Team Rocket. I won't reveal much about the next chapter, but standby for the update!**


	29. Chapter 29

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does. This story was made for fun, and not for cash. (How unfortunate.)**

* * *

**Chapter 29: Suspicions, Part one**

* * *

Two days later, Sting and Lucy were now outside a cafe in the town of Castelia. They were both enjoying some plates of blueberry pancakes for breakfast, having whip cream on both stacks of pancakes, and the two Sabertooth mages sat down together at a black patio table. These past few mornings had been really quiet with not much happening, but there were other things that could be done to take the place of doing a bunch of jobs. After all, the matter of training was also something that was pretty important.

Sting had been helping Lucy work with her Fire Magic in Reversal Mountain, and he also knew that fusion spells were not everything in that book of strange spells. Her first eight spells had all evolved to greater levels, being much stronger than they had previously been, and the effects of consuming lava had also helped Lucy do some pretty serious amounts of damage. She had really become more fiery than Natsu could ever be, able to have spells that could easily make a blaze with a simple explosion, and Lucy had become quite proud of herself.

Some spells like Fire Trick had definitely evolved, now having fire spiraling around the cherry red sphere while it bounced in a zigzag motion, and this spell's effect had really improved. When the sphere had bounced ten times to hit a rock, ten fiery explosions had transpired as a result. Each explosion had been much more powerful than the last, and this spell could also give Lucy some more flames to eat when she really needed some energy. Her fourth spell did not consume much magical power, but it was pretty useful.

Lucy had also improved with some spells like Flame Cutter, too. This spell had caused her fingernails to become long and red, and Flame Cutter gave Lucy the ability to set objects on fire when she slashed at them. This spell could also be used offensively, letting Lucy turn the flames into volcanic liquid to severely burn her opponents. The evolved version of this spell had caused Flame Cutter to have the effects of explosive combustion when Lucy threw the liquid at an object, causing a powerful explosion of fire to occur, making it useful as well.

The blonde mage was currently examining the red book, reading the names of the evolved spells to see that their descriptions had been made longer for full explanations, and Lucy smiled a bit at how she had definitely improved with this type of magic. The spells of Fire Magic had certainly grown to a pretty high level, and Lucy also took notice of the fact that Thorn's fourth fusion spell of Fire Magic had appeared in her red spell book, even though the blonde mage had not even learned it yet. Fiery Ring Chain was the strongest spell of Fire Magic in the red book, by the way.

"Now that everything is going well with my Fire Magic, Sting, can we test out one of the other types of magic now? Can we see how it's evolved, as well as seeing the fusion spells that come with it?" Lucy asked Sting in a kind tone while brushing her beautiful blonde hair, before nicely smiling at her boyfriend.

Sting responded in a calm manner, feeling a bit cautious, "I'll admit that you were pretty hot with all of that Fire Magic, Lucy, but we can't show off your explosiveness so much. After all, anybody could have trying to eavesdrop on us in Reversal Mountain. If they see how powerful you are with many different types of magic, then that person could end up exposing all of your weak spots. For now, I think that we just need to take a little break from training today and try to figure out a pretty effective strategy."

He really hated seeing the flaws in his own plans, but Sting was a pretty cautious guy. No matter how cocky he may have been in the past, the white dragon slayer knew that it was never good to let all of a person's powers be seen in only one instance. Observing people was a pretty great way to gather information on them, and Sting did not want anyone spying on his girlfriend. After all, she already had enough drama from having to deal with guys like Natsu. Lucy certainly did not need anymore enemies.

He was still really curious about the spell book, though. Even though the spells had evolved, there were still many mysteries surrounding it. For instance, what were the exact languages in the spell book? If those eight languages of olden times could be fluently understood by Sting or Lucy, then that would make things so much easier. If they had known the languages prior to everything that had happened up to this point, then Lucy could have easily become a great sorceress. However, that would take away the fun of the mysteries.

As Sting took notice of the fact that Lucy was wearing a green T-shirt with some blue jeans, his blue eyes caught sight of something strange. Lucy had just placed the red spell book on to the black patio table, and now the book was turning orange. This was strange to Sting, since the book normally changed color if Lucy had a sudden burst in emotions, but that was not happening at all right now. She looked pretty content while eating her pancakes, and the blonde mage did not even notice what had happened to her book.

While it was true that Sting had helped Lucy shake off the fact that she was a descendant of the infamous Thorn Heartfilia, he just could not shake this feeling that something was going on. He kept on having this eerie feeling like him and Lucy were being kept in the dark about something that was pretty important, something that was pretty crucial to the mystery about this strange book, and Sting did not know what it was. He had not even asked Lucy about why Karen had given her the book, and he looked a bit frustrated while knowing that he should've done it back when he saw them talking in Crocus during the Grand Magic Games.

* * *

**Meanwhile, at Fairy Tail...**

Natsu had returned from the job in the ruins, not finding a criminal at all, and he also felt like the worst guy in the world right now. Not only had Thorn abandoned him at some point while they were searching the ancient ruins, the violet-haired woman obviously moving through the shadows to find her next victims from the Fairy Tail guild, but the fire dragon slayer could not stop thinking about how he had presumably killed two of his closest friends in the guild. Erza had definitely questioned him about why Thorn had not come back with him, but Natsu could not give an acceptable answer.

He currently sat down at a table with Erza and Gray, since they had now noticed how Natsu was acting pretty guilty about something, but the fire dragon slayer could not tell them that he had killed Elfman and Evergreen to protect Thorn from the criminal in the ancient ruins. Saying that he made a mistake would not bring back his friends, and it would really make Lisanna end up hating him forever. There was no way that he could even say that Thorn had been responsible for powering up his attacks, since her abilities were unknown to everyone else.

Natsu still couldn't believe that she had just left him there when he was in utter shock, being unable to stop a spell that had enhanced his own flames, and Natsu could not eat his own flames to stop the attack. He also could not eat Thorn's flames, since those were the flames of a demon, and only Lucy would be capable of eating demonic flames. The guilt weighing down on Natsu was incredible, and he knew that something like this would cause him to be put in jail for a very long period of time.

The fire dragon slayer would definitely be in a lot of trouble with Lisanna, since this would be the worst thing that he had ever done to her. Taking the life of her older brother because of a girl's assumption was certainly not forgivable in any way, and Natsu would probably get hell from Laxus for killing a member of the Thunder God Tribe. After all, Evergreen was one of his best friends. Mira would also make Natsu feel her wrath in a torturous way, since killing her younger brother was something that was completely inexcusable.

He knew that people would start asking questions, wondering where Evergreen and Elfman were, and the cloud of suspicion would just continue to keep on growing larger while time passed by. After all, there probably were witnesses who saw them following Natsu and Thorn two days ago. People were also wondering why Thorn had been with Natsu, thinking that the fire dragon slayer was going to mess around with yet another woman, and they had just assumed that the poor girl was crying right now from heartbreak.

Natsu could envision everything that would occur when people found out that he was the killer of two innocent Fairy Tail mages, and it was certainly not going to be a good set of fantasies. Erza would harshly yell at him before trying to kill him, and Gray would definitely assist her with that task. Natsu kept closing his eyes while shaking in terror, not wanting any of his dark thoughts to come to light, and the fire dragon slayer knew that it would not be possible to keep something like this hidden forever.

Suddenly, much to his surprise, Fairy Tail's entrance doors opened up to reveal that Thorn had indeed been alive. She was now wearing a white top with a black miniskirt to match, and she smiled a bit from seeing Natsu look at her in a state of shock. He had thought that she abandoned him forever after he had presumably gotten rid of two people who were mages of Fairy Tail, but it looked like Thorn had come back to the guild. No matter how dense Natsu could be, that certainly did not leave him out of Thorn's plans.

"Hello, Natsu. I'm totally sorry about ditching you in the ruins like that, but somebody grabbed me from behind and put their hand over my eyes. When my vision was restored, I ended up in a different part of the ruins. The person who abducted me was gone, and I could not find you anywhere. I missed you so much, Natsu. You are a very great friend, and I should've called out to you." Thorn explained nicely while looking concerned for Natsu, hugging him tightly while shaking in fear to make her manipulation seem believable to him and the people who were currently watching.

The fire dragon slayer replied in a somewhat surprised manner, whispering these words quietly for nobody to really freak out and hear what he was saying, "It's good to see you, too, but you could've still warned me when it was just Elfman and Evergreen. They weren't the criminals in the ruins at all, and I ended up killing two of my closest friends. I can't tell anyone about this, or they will totally freak out and lash out at me. This big feeling of guilt is really starting to get on my nerves, and it's not getting any better."

To surprise him even more, Thorn had let Natsu know that his two friends were upstairs in the Fairy Tail guild's infirmary. They were in full body casts, having taken intense amounts of damage from that charged up Fire Dragon's Roar, and the burns were not going to go away anytime soon. Thorn had let Natsu know that his friends only had a ten percent chance of surviving from the attack that he had dealt to them, meaning that they could most likely die, but that was another lie. The two wounded mages were in the infirmary, but their shadows had only taken their physical forms to take the explosive fire head-on while the waves of the blast sent the real mages blasting off to a faraway land.

Thorn was going to manipulate Natsu in many ways before she would throw him away like a piece of garbage, but every good manipulator had to get on the good side of whoever they were manipulating. As Natsu tightly hugged Thorn for some comfort, the violet-haired mage smirked evilly from noticing that she was playing him as easily as she could play the violin back in the X600s. Natsu's dark feelings of pain and despair were things that Thorn fed off of to make herself stronger, absorbing the darkness of a person's emotions, and she would make sure that Natsu was like an unlimited energy source for her.

However, Thorn's blood red eyes suddenly widened in surprise from the fact that she could sense that the spell book had now undergone a change of color. This meant that one of the eight types of magic would soon be in use, and Thorn would be able to use it for some sweet destruction. She closed her eyes for a moment, getting the sense of the book changing from Fire Magic to Earth Magic, so that meant some more fusion spells would soon become usable. With more spells in the book, coupled with the fact that Thorn now had a pawn in Fairy Tail, her plot was a step closer to its completion.

* * *

While she was certainly having a fun time with Natsu, Lisanna Strauss had been watching Natsu with his new partner. The white-haired mage seemed pretty freaked out by the fact that Natsu seemed to be admired by someone that he did not even know, and even he did not seem to know what her motive was for liking him. Lisanna could tell when Natsu had a plan of some kind, but this was not planned by him at all. He had only met Thorn two days ago, and the fact that they were hugging so close together made Lisanna's heart ache.

She had not blackmailed the fire dragon slayer as a way of embarrassing him, but she had done it to try and get him to return to his old self. If he had done that, then Natsu would have gained Lisanna's trust back while he could have also tried to reclaim her love. She had not moved on to any other guys, trying to hold out hope for Natsu to become the caring guy that he once was, but now another girl was trying to swoop him up. Lisanna did not want to ask Natsu about his supposedly new relationship, but she did find it necessary to know who the girl taking her place would be.

The blue-eyed girl looked a bit saddened while knowing full well that she still had feelings for that dense idiot with the pink hair, no matter how much her heart tried to do away with those feelings, and Lisanna still did love him. She was just really mad at him for everything that he had done, but Lisanna had still tried to believe that the Natsu she loved was still around. She wanted the old, happy, fun-loving, cheerful Natsu to return. He was such a decent guy back then, and Lisanna was actually missing the chemistry that they once had.

Now she definitely knew how Lucy felt at first when she was no longer going to be a major part in Natsu's life, and the feeling of being replaced was never good for anybody. No one liked to be kicked off of team or have their lover's pride overshadowing the romance, and Lisanna found it very suspicious that Thorn had shown up to the guild without a single mark on her body after she had claimed to be abducted by someone in the ancient ruins. If she had been abducted for two days, fighting against someone for two days, would she not at least get one single scratch?

Lisanna could see how Thorn was smirking while she ended her hug with Natsu, almost like she had some kind of plan up her sleeve, but taking the direct approach to break them up was not a good option. Lisanna knew that looks could be deceiving, meaning that she thought that a graceful-looking girl like Thorn could also be pretty powerful, and the white-haired mage knew that trying to battle her would also be a bad way out of this. Either way, Lisanna could tell that Natsu's new partner was no ordinary girl.

However, Lisanna also knew that simply stressing about Natsu would not do any good for either of them. If he was truly moving on to Thorn, then she really could not get in the way of that. It would make her look no better than when he came between Lisanna's desire to be friends with Lucy, and Lisanna did not want to look like a total jerk. She sighed in a frustrated manner while getting up from the table with a flyer for a job that she would do today, and Lisanna walked out of the guild while only taking a small glance at Natsu.

Unknown to the white-haired mage, she would have a bit of shadowy company today. Thorn had seen Lisanna look a bit jealous while she passed by the newly formed duo, and Thorn was pretty good at reading the body language of other people. Lisanna's body language had let Thorn know that the white-haired mage would be watching out for Natsu, keeping her eyes on what Thorn would be doing, and the malicious woman certainly did not take kindly to anyone who would dare try and interfere with her plans.

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**How was Chapter 29? Did you like it? This is the first part of the "Thorn's Black Roses" arc. The Fire Magic chapters were merely prologue, just so you know. I will try to include more StiCy into this, since it's been lacking the romance lately. Also, since everyone was safe in the prologue, the chapter with the Earth Magic shall technically have two deaths. Anyway, standby for the update!**


	30. Chapter 30

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does. This story was made for fun, and not for cash. (How unfortunate.)**

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**Chapter 30: Suspicions, Part two**

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After they had finished eating breakfast at the cafe, Sting had pulled out a flyer from the left pocket of his blue vest. He had gotten this flyer from the Sabertooth guild's golden request board before anybody else could try and take away all the good jobs, and Sting was lucky that nobody else had been watching him while he had gone over to the request board. After he had gotten this particularly exciting job, Sting had ran out of the guild as fast as he could to meet his girlfriend at the cafe for their morning date.

While this job would certainly be fun, Sting really hoped that it would improve his relationship with Lucy. There wasn't anything dramatic going on to come between the two blondes, but Sting just felt like his relationship with Lucy had been missing the great spark that had ignited their love in the first place. The white dragon slayer still remembered how Lucy had given him his first kiss by accident, having clumsily tripped while falling on top of him, but Sting had really been thinking more about that kiss than how his girlfriend had tripped.

He had remembered how they had unlocked the auras for the mysterious spell book, and how Sting's missions had helped Lucy gain different types of magic. He knew that helping her was something that a good boyfriend was supposed to do for a girl, but Sting wanted to do something that was really romantic for a beautiful and kind girl like Lucy. He really wanted to give her a nice surprise, something that would make her blush in amazement like when she had first kissed him to show her feelings for him, and this mission would definitely help Sting out with that.

The mission was surprisingly simple, and it would be taking place in Gateau Town. This was the place where great cakes could be made and bought by many people, the various shops giving off such delicious aromas, and all that Sting and Lucy would have to do is just order a cake for the town to get its business back on track. It wasn't like any of the cakes had lost their sweet taste, but it was more like how the attraction of tourists had really faded away from the town. This was most likely due to the tourists being in Crocus for the Grand Magic Games, and the tourism there had made the capital of Fiore rake in tons of cash.

The people of Gateau Town did not want to end up closing their shops, nor did they want customers to just buy something once and never come back. People had been passing through this town, but the thrill of the Grand Magic Games had really drained many people of their money from buying so much merchandise from various places. The client had just wanted any advertising of any kind to be done, having informed the volunteering mages that the advertisement would be filmed live in for everyone in Fiore to see, and Sting knew that Lucy would love to do something like this.

He knew that she loved to show off her stylish outfits in things like contests, and Lucy was also pretty beautiful on camera. She was never even shy about being filmed, especially since the Grand Magic Games had been filmed and put on DVDs for anyone to relive the excitement all over again through the power of their television screens. Sting also liked to show off his handsome looks to people, and being filmed was certainly a great way to give some much needed publicity to the guild of Sabertooth.

While this was certainly going to be a job that was fun, Sting was still concerned with the day that Lucy had been left in shock by what Karen had told her about Thorn. He could tell that Lucy had been doing her best to hide away this utter feeling of shock, probably not even wanting to believe that it was the truth about who her ancestors had been, and Sting had wanted her to at least tell him if something was going on with her. He had definitely encouraged her to believe that Thorn's power could be controlled, but he did not want her to think that bottling up her feelings about all of this was actually the right thing to do.

Ever since the day that Sting had seen Lucy feel so shocked like how she had felt in the park, he could easily tell that all of this was Karen's fault. She was the one to blame for giving the book to Lucy in the first place, probably using Lucy's feelings about Natsu to persuade her into having that spell book, and everything had been sailing smoothly without any complications until Thorn had been brought into this. Lucy had already been keeping quiet about her Darkness Magic, but now the matter Thorn's Shadow Demon Magic had to go unspoken.

Lucy was waiting by the northern route to Nimbasa Town, smiling while she had waited for Sting to finally get there while he had been walking with his blue eyes focused down on the flyer, and Sting looked for a moment while nervously smiling back at her. He did not want to end up being the overprotective boyfriend who would get into every single one of Lucy's little troubles, but he felt like the dark parts of the book were only being investigated by Lucy alone. After all, she was the only one who could actually read the spells.

Lucy asked Sting nicely while walking towards him with the orange spell book in her hands, "What are we going to do today, Sting? Are we going to go on another cool adventure to an island or something, or will today be a little less tense?"

The white dragon slayer replied in a calm manner, not wanting to get Lucy worried about anything while trying to also rekindle the flame in their relationship, "Well, I got us a sweet job in Gateau Town. All that we have to do is advertise the town on television to get more tourists passing through there. I like publicity, but they could have advertised their town by having someone from there set up a concession stand during the Grand Magic Games. Anyway, let's go get some people talking about the awesome commercial that we'll be in."

As Lucy looked really satisfied about the job that Sting had picked for her, she wondered about the stage that their relationship was in. Could they develop into something more, or would their relationship stay to just being boyfriend and girlfriend? Lucy had wanted to know if Sting would ever go to the next stage with her, even wondering if he would go near that level with her, but the blonde mage also knew that Sting might not want to anything more with her. They had only been training like partners, but two partners with such great chemistry did need a bit of romance.

* * *

**Meanwhile...**

Lisanna had taken a job that had to be done in the Desert Resort, the same place where Lucy had beaten down Suna in a fight where the Earth Magic had joined forces with the spell book, and the white-haired mage had the task of collecting some of the sand for a client who wanted to see if it would be useful for learning Sand Magic. This was quite a strange request, but the client was offering up 700,000 jewels as a reward for the sand. It was certainly not useless, since the sand could be used in explosive ways.

The muddy ground from before had been changed back into sand, courtesy of someone who probably had the same abilities as Suna, and Lisanna wondered how she was going to collect sand. She did not have a vacuum or a plastic bag to put it in, and even holding some sand in her hands would just cause it to fall back down on to the ground. Having a grain of sand was not the same as having a whole lot of it, so how in the world could Lisanna bring a few pounds of sand to this weird client who needed it?

While she was walking around the sandy area below the hill where the Relic Castle stood, Lisanna could still sense something like energy that had been used a while ago. It seemed like a fight of some kind actually did happen here, since this place had no tourists like how it usually had some archaeologists digging in the sand for some ancient treasure to be found by them. The things that were buried in the Desert Resort ranged from old fossils to spheres of gold that were being taken away by the quicksand, so it really was a resort for getting wealthy.

Lisanna looked pretty miffed while she had to wonder how in the world she was going to collect a bunch of sand to complete the job request, and she also knew that collecting quicksand would also be impossible. Touching that stuff would just cause her to sink into it, and the quicksand was noticeably darker than the normal sand in the Desert Resort. This was by far one of the hardest tasks that anyone could ever give, and it was also a very strange request. Really, why not just learn Sand Magic from a book of spells?

She groaned loudly in a frustrated manner, finding this task to really be a difficult one, and Lisanna had also thought about just going to back to Fairy Tail for a different job. After all, it really would just be a waste of her time to try and accomplish a task that could not be done without something that would greatly assist her. As the white-haired mage continued to look pretty mad about her current circumstances, walking towards the entrance of the Desert Resort to go back to the guild, a large twister of sand suddenly formed around her.

"Well, look at what we have here. It looks like there is an intruder in my Desert Resort, and I seem to remember seeing her on one of the Fairy Tail teams in the Grand Magic Games. From the info that I received a few days ago, that Lucy girl was also in your guild. Well, this will be the perfect way to show how much stronger I've gotten ever since I lost to her. I have no quarrel with you, but I'm really in the mood for a fight. Besides, this would be the perfect way for me to get some indirect payback." A female voice told Lisanna in a harsh tone, as the twister of sand suddenly began to subside.

The white-haired mage gasped in shock from hearing the voice of someone who seemed like they had encountered Lucy Heartfilia before, and it seemed like this woman had lost to the blonde mage. Since this was the Desert Resort, having never had any criminals in the record books of Fairy Tail being in this location, Lisanna had no idea who she would be facing in this hot and sandy area. However, she was definitely wishing that Lucy was here to handle whatever business this woman wanted. The idea of indirect payback didn't seem fun to Lisanna, honestly.

She looked up at the hill where the Relic Castle had resided, and Lisanna narrowed her blue eyes from seeing who her opponent would be. She was going to end up facing off against Suna Shiro, the woman who had orange eyes and green hair that reached all the way down to her waist. She wore a simple orange T-shirt with a black skirt, and she also wore some knee-high black leather boots. Suna also now had painted her fingernails and toenails orange, to represent the fact that she was the Earth Dragon Slayer.

Deciding to take this seriously, thinking that this woman of the sand was able to fight equally with Lucy at a very high level, Lisanna quickly went into her Animal Soul: Tigress Take-Over. In this form, she had sharp claws that could slice through metal and her speed had also increased. She ran towards Suna, attempting to start things off with a few quick slashes that would leave her opponent screaming in pure pain, and Lisanna also ran in a zigzag path to try and confuse her opponent by swerving like this.

However, her plan was far too simple. Suna smirked evilly while slamming her palms against the ground, causing a large wall of earth to rise up from underground like a large shield, but this somehow felt different than the shield that Suna had put up to cancel out Sting's White Dragon's Roar. She giggled a bit, before snapping her fingers twice, almost like she was giving a signal to her Earth Dragon Slayer Magic, and the wall of earth exploded in an orange blast of energy when Lisanna had gotten close to it.

Several boulders floated high in the air, most likely being an aftereffect of Suna's spell, and that was quite a clever move. It was almost like she had taken a few notes from fighting against Lucy in the battle that left her and Aisu screaming in excruciating pain. He had parted ways with Suna, not wanting to be around her anymore, and the green-haired woman could tell that she was better off on her own. After all, now she was able to battle people without anyone getting in her way or telling her what she should do.

Suna made some sand rise up from the ground, changing its properties with her unique ability, and all of the sand fused into one large boulder before splitting into eight boulders that were an eighth of the original's size. This move was known as Sand Roll, and it simply allowed Suna to send rolling boulders at her opponent. The boulders would move at slow speeds with not much power behind them, but their side effect would certainly be a bit troubling for Lisanna. Suna could even make the boulders bounce while they rolled, making things even more difficult for Lisanna.

She sent four of the boulders towards Lisanna, having them roll at incredibly slow speeds, and Lisanna simply dodged them with ease. However, the white-haired mage looked stunned to see the boulders suddenly change direction and start to move slightly faster. She kept on dodging them all, something that really amused Suna, and the green-haired woman had a plan forming in her orange eyes. Suna made her four boulders miss on purpose, having them simply roll around the area for a few seconds, and she waited until they were moving much faster.

Feeling pretty confident about winning this fight, Suna made her four boulders roll up and down the hills in the Desert Resort to give them the high acceleration that they needed. When the boulders were now surrounded by an orange aura, moving at incredibly fast speeds, Lisanna knew that she had to take emergency action and evade them. However, as she dodged one of them, Lisanna did not notice that Suna made one of her boulders target Lisanna from behind while gaining air after it had jumped off a hill.

Before she could even react to it, the blue-eyed girl was struck hard in the back by the boulder and she was sent crashing into a sandy hill. A large orange blast of Earth Magic transpired, making the hill of sand fly into the air, and Lisanna was sent flying into the air with the sand. She winced in pain from taking so much damage in those few seconds, feeling the immense power of Suna's blast, but that was nothing when it would be compared to Suna's next attack. This would certainly make Lisanna get some sand to complete her mission, interestingly enough.

Suna had a devious look in her orange eyes while she manipulated all of the sand that was in the air above Lisanna, making it form a large Sand Fist, and the large fist slammed down on Lisanna's chest! The white-haired mage screamed in agony from the intense pressure of the sand that had slammed down on her chest, and it was making her descend towards the ground at a rapid pace! Lisanna also knew that there was no way for her to even break a frightening fall like this, and all that she could do was wish that she had only reconciled with Natsu.

This was probably her bad karma for blackmailing Natsu, making him cheat in the Grand Magic Games, and turning her back on him to gain sympathy while not feeling bad about she had been using him just to make him return to his old self. Manipulation was a pretty powerful thing, and using it to try and fix something was a very risky way to go. In Lisanna's case, her attempts to get Natsu back to normal had utterly failed and she would now be paying the price for not trying to help him when he needed her help to be happy.

When Lisanna and Suna's large fist of sand had hit the ground, an enormous blast of Earth Magic had transpired! Its force was powerful enough to make sand blow everywhere, making waves of quicksand rise up for a few moments, and Suna smiled wickedly while seeing her waves of sand be like a sea that no one could escape from. On top of that, Suna had made all of the sand have immense pressure to crush anyone who was going to be under it. This move also made the floating rocks from earlier be brought down around one area, indicating where the opponent was located, and this move was known as Rocky Sand Tomb Burial.

* * *

"Well, that wasn't much of a fight. Those stupid fairies need much more experience, if they want to challenge someone as powerful as me. That Lucy girl was clever, though, but little miss Tigress just couldn't catch on to my quick strategies. I hope that Lucy felt the blast waves of my spells because that was only a little taste of how strong I am now. She will go down. Speaking of going down, I wonder how far down that white-haired girl is. Having her suffocate from a lack of air would be too easy, so I'll-" Suna spoke aloud with an evil smirk on her face, giggling evilly before feeling something sharp stab her in the back and come out through her stomach.

She stopped talking for a moment, coughing up blood from feeling something impale her through the back, and the green-haired woman turned around to see Karen and Thorn standing behind her. Thorn had changed into her adult form, wearing the red dress while having red highlights in her black hair, and she had a malicious look in her blood red eyes while devilishly smirking. She had followed Lisanna here, mainly just to meet up with Karen, and Thorn knew that Suna would be here to guard her treasures in the Relic Castle.

The black-haired woman had made a spinning drill out of sand cover her left hand, and she had stabbed Suna with it. Since the earth dragon slayer had claimed to be such an elite, Thorn had taught three of her fusion spells to the green-haired woman. She had mastered them easily, greatly impressing both Thorn and Karen, but the latter had only seen Suna as a mere test subject to make Lucy Heartfilia improve her skills and work towards the completion of the mysterious spell book. Karen was giggling evilly, having found that one-sided battle to surprisingly be funny.

"You think that you're so elite, but you were only a mere pawn in our plans. In our lovely game of chess, pieces must be sacrificed for us to accomplish our goal. Having you fight against Lucy Heartfilia was a major part of the strategy, and this was really your final victory. You have reached the end of your life, Suna Shiro." Thorn explained evilly while maintaining her devilish smirk, before proceeding to use her fourth and final fusion spell of Earth Magic to take Suna's life and make sure that her plans were kept in the dark.

Thorn's final fusion spell of Earth Magic was known as Sand Silence, and it caused the sand to swirl around Suna's body while she continued to cough up what appeared to be blood. The sand simply began to constrict the body of the green-haired woman, even constricting her neck to prevent her from breathing, and Thorn also made the sand have enough pressure to break Suna's legs with its intensity. She did not even care that Suna had snapped her fingers before this happened, knowing that any attack spell that came from the desert would be useless against her.

As the sand finished crushing Suna's limbs and pounding down on her body, Thorn laughed evilly at the fact that she had killed another person to make her plans go a step forward. The death of Lisanna was certainly important, now having no one to get in her way of manipulating Natsu like a puppet, and cutting Suna loose was what chess was all about. If a pawn had no more use, why should it be allowed to stick around? Karen also continued to giggle evilly, knowing that the plan was only six steps near its activation.

_"Three pawns are down, and only five more to go." _Thorn thought to herself, before disappearing into the shadows of the Relic Castle with Karen to plan out her next move.

While the demonic woman had left the scene, the body of Suna lay motionless on the desert sand. Her orange eyes were open, having supposedly lost consciousness from Thorn breaking all of the bones in her body, but the face of the green-haired woman began to have cracks in it. The rest of her body began to have cracks in it as well, breaking apart as if Suna had made a shell of herself take her place at some point, and the red liquid on the ground was not blood. It surprisingly made a hole of quicksand appear on the ground, and Suna had emerged from it while looking utterly angered by technically being defeated once again.

As she used her powers to change the sand in the Desert Resort to mushy mud, Suna could faintly sense Lisanna's magical power. The ten rocks making a tomb had now floated away from each other, and Lisanna's body rose to the surface. She had tiny movements in her fingers, showing that she had definitely still been alive, and it was mainly because Suna had snapped her fingers to heal the sandy desert and everything buried within it as well. After all, how else would she keep her buried treasures from rotting into ancient dust?

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**In Gateau Town...**

When Sting and Lucy had arrived in Gateau Town to take care of the tourism problem, both of the mages were very surprised to see that Hibiki Lates and Jenny Realight from the guild known as Blue Pegasus had beat them to it. Hibiki and Jenny had both been posing for the cameras, having done this for an hour before Lucy and Sting had reached the town, making the brown-eyed girl and the white dragon slayer feel like they had come all the way here for nothing. The spotlight had been off of them, that's for sure.

Hibiki's charms and Jenny's looks had caused tons of men and women to come flocking to Gateau Town to not only buy many sweets, but they also wanted autographs from the famous duo. After all, they were on the front cover of the newest issue of Sorcerer Magazine. It wasn't very shocking that people paid attention to the people who were on a team that placed fifth overall in the Grand Magic Games, since that team still had attractive people on it. Brains and brawn were clearly not matching up to beauty here, huh?

Lucy was about to cheer up Sting, who looked pretty frustrated about not getting to be in the commercial because of the klutzy client presumably sending copies of their job request to many guilds in Fiore, but the blonde mage looked pretty surprised to see her orange spell book begin to glow. She opened up the book to the fifth section of magic, where the Earth Magic was located, and Lucy smiled happily to see that the fusion spells of Thorn and Suna had been written into the book. This was most likely Thorn's doing, however.

Sting told his girlfriend in a nice manner, after closing her orange book and softly kissing her on the lips for a moment, "To make up for Hibiki and Jenny stealing our spotlight, we'll have a practice battle tomorrow. You may only use one type of magic, and we'll also be going on a romantic date. You also have to tell me everything about Karen and the book, and you have to give me a pretty good kiss. Let's make sure that our fun day will be filled with all kinds of excitement, especially when we figure out why the book was given to you. I'm sorry for wanting to know so much about it, but it's just weird how you once said that a merchant was happy to see you open a sealed book."

Lucy replied happily while remembering Karen's words and having joy in her brown eyes, "I would love to have a battle and a date with you, Sting. You're the best boyfriend ever, and I guess that we do need to discuss the book more. It was the thing that helped us complete our first job together in the sewers of Castelia Town, you know. Karen told me how the book would open with a person who had a soul that was pure as silver, and my heart had to be filled with brightness like the light of gold."

Upon hearing those words, Sting smiled a bit. Not only was he going to have a battle and a date with his beautiful blonde girlfriend, but now he had also uncovered a pretty important clue about Lucy and the book. If it opened up because of her heart and soul being made of light, then the darkness that occurred on the fourth day of the Grand Magic Games had been sealed away. If the first seven types of magic reacted to the positive feelings of Lucy, then why did the dark magic react in such a negative way? Either way, Sting could now tell that Karen was no ordinary mage in the Grand Magic Games. She knew that Lucy had some kind of major role for the book, but what was it?

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**How was Chapter 30? Did you like it? The StiCy has improved a bit, and I apologize for the Fairy Tail side having more development in the past few chapters. I changed up from my original plot once again, since there is still something for Lisanna to be involved in when it comes around. Thorn won't try to manipulate or kill off anyone else in the next chapter, so all your favorites are safe. Standby for the update!**


	31. Chapter 31

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does. This story was made for fun, and not for cash. (How unfortunate.)**

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**Chapter 31: To Pry Or Not To Pry?**

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The following day, Sting and Lucy had not gone to the request board to look for any jobs to do. They were taking a break from doing any requests, and this was the day where Sting would take Lucy to the beach for a romantic date. He would also be having another practice battle with her, seeing just how much she had improved ever since the Grand Magic Games had ended, and this would also be the perfect way to improve the chemistry in their relationship. Having a romantic picnic was a bit of a cliched romantic move, but it still worked.

Sting had been making a strategy for how to get Lucy to love his charms again like she had done in the past, and he also wanted to speak with her about the spell book that still had a few things shrouded in mystery. He had remembered her words from yesterday, hearing them resonate in his mind like the sound of an extremely large drum being struck, and the white dragon slayer knew that Lucy had a soul that was as pure as silver. She also did have a very kind heart that was bright like glistening gold, and that had been important for the book to be unsealed.

While Sting knew that he had to find out more about the book from Lucy, he also knew that he could not come on too strong with this sensitive subject. Talking about Lucy being a descendant of the infamous Thorn Heartfilia was something that Sting would definitely not be bringing up on their date, but he just had to wonder about that woman named Karen. If she was supposedly a traveling merchant who had given Lucy the spell book, then why was she participating in the Grand Magic Games with a former dark guild?

On top of that, when she had helped her team achieve first place for a moment in the survival tournament of the Grand Magic Games, why had Karen not made her team of females go after the people from Team Sabertooth? She could have used her shadowy powers to get rid of Sting and the others in the blink of an eye, yet why did she choose to leave them alone the entire time? Karen had certainly not been scared of the other competitors, and she could have easily sent everyone into the shadows to make Team Sweet Melancholy win the whole tournament.

Many assumptions had been going through Sting's mind, trying to figure out Karen's intentions, and he had looked very deep in thought while wondering why Karen had given Lucy a book that had Thorn's dark power within it. Having eavesdropped on Lucy and Karen when they had talked in the park, Sting could only guess that the book had intentionally been given to Lucy. After all, if Karen had not known about the darkness of Thorn, then she never would've told Lucy that Thorn was her ancestor. She gave the book to Lucy, but for what overall purpose?

As Sting still looked puzzled and continued to give more thought into this matter, Lucy happily told him while she had tiptoed quietly to give him a warm hug from behind, "I'm ready for us to go to the beach, Sting! It's a beautiful day for us to relax together, enjoy the romantic picnic, take in the warm heat of the sunshine, and I'm sure that Aquarius and my Water Magic will make some great waves for surfing! This all sounds so incredibly fun, Sting, and I'm glad that you suggested the idea yesterday!"

Sting wanted to respond, but the fact that Lucy had hugged him from behind was making him blush. It's not like she hadn't hugged him many times before, but at least Lucy was fully clothed back then. Right now, she was certainly dressed appropriately for the beach. She was wearing nothing but a lacy white bra and some white panties, looking very beautiful with her blonde hair down while her cheeks were blushing a light shade of pink, and her scent smelled so sweet like she had put on lots of cherry perfume.

Her large cleavage was pushing up against Sting's back, making him blush even more while Lucy wrapped her arms around his waist, and the white dragon slayer knew that he had to calm himself down. He was blushing right now from feeling Lucy's large orbs pressing up against his back, rubbing it softly for a few seconds, and he had to use most of his willpower to resist the urge of feeling them against his palms. Even Lucy's wonderful smell made it hard for Sting to resist her beauty, and he just fell backwards into her arms.

Lucy looked a bit surprised by this, catching her boyfriend before he could fall on to the floor, and she had a slight bit of worry in her cocoa brown eyes from seeing Sting look happily dazed. Lucy blushed while not even knowing that her sexy hug of love had caused Sting to be so dazed, and she saw him blushing even more when he opened his charming blue eyes to see that Lucy's breasts were mere inches from his face. This made the white dragon slayer blush even more, and Lucy giggled a bit before helping Sting stand up to give him a warm kiss on the lips.

The white dragon slayer replied nicely with a kind smile, shaking his head to snap himself out of fantasizing over his girlfriend's breasts, "I'm glad that you love my idea of going to the beach, Lucy. We are going to have a really good time, and I will make sure that our romantic day at the beach is a pretty good day! Just don't think that I'll go easy on you in our battle, because I'm going to show you how powerful a real dragon slayer can be! We can definitely go surfing, but I should warn you that the great Sting Eucliffe is a master at surfboarding and many other sports."

His high amount of self-confidence made Lucy happily giggle at him, and the brown-eyed girl held Sting's hands in hers while admiring the beauty of his calm and charming blue eyes. She always loved to enjoy the positive energy that Sting would be radiating, and he certainly was bright like the White Dragon Slayer Magic that he wielded. Lucy could only hug Sting once again, letting him feel her loving warmth, and Lucy's feelings of love had made her book change from orange to yellow while it was on the counter of the bar next to a picnic basket that was filled with food. Since everything seemed fully prepared, Sting and Lucy respectively grabbed the picnic basket and the yellow spell book while they ran out of the Sabertooth guild to enjoy their day at the beach.

* * *

**Meanwhile, at the Fairy Tail guild...**

Lisanna's disappearance had made Mira become worried, very concerned that her younger brother and younger sister were now both missing, and the barmaid looked very concerned while she looked like the blame had to be put upon herself for not joining her little sister on that job yesterday. Mira had stamped the flyer for Lisanna to take that job in the Desert Resort, simply going to collect a bunch of sand for a client, and it didn't seem like a mission that had involved any criminals. What had happened to Lisanna?

The fact that Evergreen, Elfman, and Lisanna were now all missing was certainly a cause for alarm, and Mira had convinced Master Makarov to send a few people out on searches yesterday when Lisanna hadn't showed up after an hour. Everyone had conducted their searches in different parts of Fiore, wanting to see if their dear friend Lisanna had possibly been abducted by somebody, but no one had found anything. Since Mira's plan proved to utterly be a complete waste of time, everyone had decided to devise their own strategies. Well, almost everyone was on the hunt for Lisanna.

Gray had taken notice of the fact that while everyone else had been going off on searches, Natsu and Thorn had stayed behind in the guildhall to supposedly receive word about if Lisanna would be found. It was Thorn's idea to stay behind, since she looked kind and said that her magic would be useless in searches. Gray knew that every type of magic could be useful in some way, but he did not find the actions of Thorn to come from laziness or feelings of inferiority in her abilities. He actually saw her to be pretty suspicious.

Thorn's refusal to join the search was a small part of why Gray was suspicious of her, but he was interested in the fact that the girl who was new to Fairy Tail was conveniently manipulating and allied with the densest guy in the guild. Normally, new people wouldn't be so eager to talk with others on their first few days in a guild that they had recently joined. On top of that, Thorn had now seemed like the leader of the team. She sat down at a table with Natsu, and he looked lost in a daydream about her while grinning in a silly yet lovable manner.

It was pretty obvious to Gray that Thorn's charms had quite the effect on Natsu, making him be submissive to her every suggestion or command, and it was a little too convenient for the new girl to somehow know that Natsu was the densest guy in Fairy Tail. She hadn't even met him before she joined the guild, and Gray really found it odd for Thorn to manipulate him so easily like she had a plan of some kind. While the whole guild had freaked out over the fact that people were now missing, Thorn had been unusually calm like nothing important had happened.

Also, Gray had to wonder why Thorn would choose to partner up with someone who had such a bad rep with women. Natsu had been known to be a total jerk to girls, mainly to Lucy and Lisanna, and there had even been a few articles in the issues of Sorcerer Magazine that put the fire dragon slayer on the top ten list of men that women should not go out with. The paparazzi certainly had fun talking about him and dragging his name through the mud, so could Thorn be working for the paparazzi on some prank show that involved Natsu as the main victim?

Gray could tell that Thorn had no real feelings for Natsu, based on how she was manipulating him like a puppet in their team, but the ice mage did not know why Thorn needed to have Natsu on her side. For one thing, a jerk like him could not really help her with the task of gaining popularity in Fairy Tail. He also wasn't the best team member to be on jobs with, since he had been caring about himself for the past few months, and Natsu also had a habit of being very reckless on missions. He had once destroyed an entire town, making Team Natsu be fined for the damages instead of being rewarded for their assistance.

The ice mage asked Erza in a calm tone, having a stern look in his dark blue eyes while they sat at a table together, "Hey, Erza. Don't you find it a bit odd how Thorn was so quick to form a team with Natsu, especially since she hardly knows him? On top of that, why is he getting so infatuated by her level of beauty and her abilities with persuasion? Isn't it like he's rushing into things with some girl that he barely even knows, and did you notice how he actually listened to Thorn when she wanted him to stay at the guild with her while we were all on searches for our friend?"

The scarlet-haired woman replied in a calm manner, sighing before closing her eyes and taking a sip of her cup of hot chocolate, "That really is odd, when looking at it from your viewpoint. I don't really know why she'd bother with the guy who used Lisanna and Lucy, unless she's just as disliked in whatever guild she came from and decided to befriend the idiot of our guild in an effort to get some sympathy. It's really sad to see that people can be so desperate for fame, like that Karen girl I heard about from Cana. If her own team wasn't good enough, making fake mages isn't going to give her any real power."

Gray looked a bit disappointed about asking Erza those questions, having gotten a few answers that would make the scarlet-haired mage not think of Thorn as suspicious in a dark way, and the black-haired male let out a sigh while turning around to see what would probably be the most shocking thing ever. Thorn was happily smiling while blushing at the sight of Natsu picking out a great job for them to go on, and she cupped his face in her hands before giving him a passionate kiss on the lips to supposedly show her appreciation for him.

As Thorn told Natsu that he was such a good guy to always be thinking of ways to greatly help her out, the demonic girl remained in her teenage form while looking left and right to make sure that no one was watching her. She had a sneaky look in her blood red eyes, satisfied that everything in her plan was going along nicely without any obvious flaws, and Thorn disappeared into the shadow of Cana as she walked by their table. She had thought that no one noticed that, but Gray had been watching her the entire time.

Now seeing this as his chance to really get some clues about who Thorn was, Gray used his Ice-Make Magic to make a tiny ice shard hit Cana's shadow right after Thorn had sunk down into it. As Thorn moved through the shadows, more small ice shards appeared above the ground in a moving line like a trail for Gray to track his shadowy suspect. He simply got up from his seat and ran fast while seeing more shards of ice being created while Thorn moved through the shadows, and Gray simply ran beside the growing line of shards while looking determined to find out what Thorn's motives were. His little trick was called Ice-Make: Chilly Track, by the way.

* * *

**At the beach...**

When Sting arrived at the beach with Lucy, he gently threw the picnic basket on to a small grassy hill that stood over the white sandy beach. He gave Lucy a smirk of confidence, ready to begin their practice battle, and the white dragon slayer quickly ran over to the other side of the beach to be Lucy's opponent. If they got to have a pretty good battle, it would both Sting and Lucy work up an appetite to eat the lunch for their romantic date. After all, fighting for fun and eating for romance were two ways to have a delightful day off from taking any jobs.

Lucy had also been forward to this friendly rematch with Sting, since their last match had really ended in a draw with no clear winner, and she smiled happily while wanting to do her best. She also hoped that her spells would not hurt Sting too much, since they had evolved while growing higher in their levels of power, and Lucy decided to really bring Sting a challenge. Even if he was her boyfriend, Lucy was certainly not going to let this fight be finished with a few easy attacks. She took in a deep breath, exhaling the air afterwards, and Lucy narrowed her cocoa brown eyes while trying to pretend that Sting was an enemy.

As the gentle sea breeze blew across the beach, Sting decided to begin this match with his White Dragon's Holy Ray. He fired a copious amount of white beams of light from the space in between his hands as he put them together, and they headed straight towards Lucy! Sting smirked in a cocky manner, thinking that he knew exactly what Lucy was going to do, and his prediction was right on target while he saw his girlfriend open up her yellow spell book. If Sting's guess was correct, what spell was Lucy going to use?

She had courage in her cocoa brown eyes, smiling a bit while the white beams of light came towards her, and Lucy began to spin around at a rapid pace while calling upon the first spell of her Lightning Magic. It was known as Thunder Jolt, and this was the spell that Lucy had used to cancel out Holy Ray last time. As she looked pretty confident about the result of these two spells clashing again, the Lightning Magic in the yellow spell book had other ideas. It made a spiraling tower of yellow lightning surround Lucy, and Sting's white beams of light were now hitting the tower from many different directions.

In an instant, Sting looked pretty shocked to see that the tower of lightning had reflected his attack back at him in the form of ten powerful beams of yellow electricity. They all headed straight for him in a curved trajectory, but the white dragon slayer was quick enough to dodge all of Lucy's attacks. When they hit the ground, large yellow blasts of lightning had transpired and they made huge craters appear in the ground. Lucy and Sting both looked puzzled by this, since Thunder Jolt did not work in that manner or make the Lightning Magic have so much power in its weakest attack spell.

Lucy told Sting in a concerned manner, looking a bit confused before she looked down at the spells of Lightning Magic in yellow text, "Don't try to attack me just yet, Sting! That spell was definitely not Thunder Jolt, and it would at least be similar to its previous form if the spell had actually evolved!"

The blonde girl looked in the yellow spell book, scanning all of the spells while reading their descriptions on the first few pages of the fourth section in the book where the Lightning Magic was located, and her brown eyes widened in pure amazement from seeing eight new lines in yellow text. These were obviously the fusion spells for the ability of electricity, and the first fusion spell had been activated when the book's will overruled Lucy's choice because it probably thought Thunder Jolt could not handle a much stronger version of Holy Ray. The recently used fusion spell was known as Lightning Counter, and it allowed Lucy to counter long-range attacks while sending them back at the foe with lightning added. The side effect of this spell also made the leftover electricity from the blasts surround Lucy, increasing her speed.

Now having the chance to attack, since he could see Lucy panting slightly like she needed to charge up her magical power after using that impressive first fusion spell, Sting unleashed his White Dragon's Roar. He unleashed a white laser beam from his mouth, now having trained hard enough to make the attack much larger with more power and speed, prompting Lucy to active her second fusion spell while she planned to also dodge the attack at the last moment if the spell was not able to work under certain conditions.

The second fusion spell was known as Electric Shock Trick, and it caused Lucy to unleash a yellow sphere of electricity from her mouth. The sphere quickly collided with Sting's White Dragon's Roar, and yellow electricity was surrounding his attack. This new fusion spell did not seem to have any side effects, and Lucy thought that she was going to get blasted away. Suddenly, she noticed that Sting's grew twice in size while also doubling in power before it split into two beams that went right by Lucy without touching her! Two large blasts of white light transpired, blinding Lucy for a few seconds, and she now knew how the new spell worked. It made electricity surround the attack, doubling its power to make the enemy think they were winning, but then the attack would split in half to really trick them.

Sting was pretty impressed to see that Lucy had made his attack miss its intended target, and he smirked confidently at his girlfriend while letting her make the first move this time. He wanted to really feel the powerful of whatever her next fusion spell would be, ready to try and counter it in any way possible, and Sting could see that Lucy's yellow spell book was beginning to glow once again. This signified that another new spell of Lightning Magic was being written into the book, and Lucy would be allowed to use it.

She called upon the third fusion spell, making the words in the book glow with yellow beams of light shining from the page, and this new move was known as Lightning Demon's Thundercloud. The instructions for this move simply told Lucy to look up into the sky, and she looked up to see a dark cloud floating down towards her. The cloud had electricity surrounding it, and the spell surprisingly wanted Lucy to eat the cloud. As weird as it sounded, Lucy felt her magical power being restored completely after eating the lightning within the dark cloud. It surprisingly tasted pretty good to her, too.

With her magical power now fully restored, Lucy decided that it was time to end this by unleashing the final fusion spell of Lightning Magic. She had quickly imagined this spell earlier, having wanted to create it sometime during this match, and it caused the eight clouds in the sky to turn from white to black with electricity surrounding all of them. The clouds began to spin around rapidly in a circle, and they created a large ring of electricity in the sky! The ring of lightning quickly propelled itself down towards Sting, landing on the ground with him in its center, and eight large yellow blasts of Lightning Magic began to transpire around him! The shock waves had paralyzed him as a side effect, and the rest of the electricity hit Sting simultaneously from all directions to create another massive blast of lightning!

The white dragon slayer comically told Lucy in a dazed manner, looking shocked while his body tingled from the electric shock, "As soon as the paralysis wears off, name that spell Lightning Demon's Surging Clouds."

As Sting fell to the ground and fainted from taking so much damage, Lucy looked very concerned and rushed to her boyfriend's aid. Sting was now unconscious, but he was still able to breathe. Lucy had really felt like cursing at herself for probably using too much electricity, and even Laxus or Orga would probably say that she was way too electrifying. Lightning Demon's Surging Clouds could also be used to power up other spells, sharing the ability of chain power with Electric Curve, and these new lightning spells were pretty lethal. Even though Lucy had won, she knelt down in front of Sting and gently kissed his lips to give him some warmth.

* * *

**Meanwhile, in Magnolia Town...**

Gray had followed the trail of ice shards to a back alley in the town of Magnolia, the part of the town where nobody was ever really hanging out, and he had quickly dispelled all of his ice shards to not let Thorn or anyone else possibly around here be aware of his presence. He did not want to be caught eavesdropping on Thorn, and Gray to see if his suspicions about her would be confirmed. If she really was a new girl who chose Natsu out of pure fate, then she was really lucky. If not, however, then there would be a problem.

The ice mage certainly did not rule out the possibility that Thorn was secretly working as a double agent for Raven Tail, the guild that was run by Ivan Dreyar because he wanted to find Lumen Histoire, and that guild did need a female member to replace Flare Corona after she had gone back to her home in the Sun Village. Either way, Thorn did seem really shady to Gray. After all, what girl would really want to be seen with a guy like Natsu? Also, why had Thorn been so calm while everyone else was worried about Lisanna's disappearance.

He hid behind a few trash cans, staying silent because he did not want to get caught, and Gray had to wonder why Thorn had come to a back alley with a dead end. She surely wasn't thinking of climbing the walls to jump from building to building, and there was no secret place in this back alley for anyone to have any speakeasies or cafes here. Besides, based on how trashy and dirty this back alley looked to anyone, customers might not want to come to a secret bar here. The crawling rats probably wouldn't even go in the cafe, since they enjoyed digging through garbage.

Upon hearing Thorn knock five times in a rhythm like she was trying to make beats on the brick wall in front of her, Gray took a peek over the trash cans to see that Karen came out of a rat's shadow to meet with her. Gray had to wonder what that woman from Team Sweet Melancholy was doing here, and why had she waited for Thorn to come here like this was their place for secret meetings? Well, it was one of their secret places to meet because nobody had rarely even come on the back streets of Magnolia.

Now seeing that Karen could move through the shadows like how Thorn was able to, Gray had to wonder what they would be talking about. Had Thorn been in league with Karen for strange purpose that involved Natsu? Gray immediately lowered his head back down, but the black aura suddenly rising into the air caught his interest. He looked between the small gap in between two trash cans to see what exactly was going on here, and he saw Thorn change into her adult form. Her hair was now black with red highlights, her skin was pale, and she wore a black and red dress with red sleeves draping down her shoulders, the dress having both legs showing, and she had a red sash around her waist.

"Is the plan commencing nicely, Thorn, my grand mistress of darkness? How soon shall you end up admitting it all to that foolish boy?" Karen asked in a calm tone while smiling a bit, having witnessed Thorn's manipulation of Natsu from the shadows.

Thorn responded in an evil tone, giggling sadistically with a devilish look in her blood red eyes, "My plan has no flaws in it. Even you must be one to admit that, Karen. I think that I'll be able to admit all the truth to Natsu while I take my time killing him for what he did to my descendant. It's only natural that a lesser antagonist gets his karma delivered to him by the greater antagonist, and I am really dominating over him in this game of chess. I even convinced him to not fret over Lisanna possibly being dead, since we already killed Suna after she took care of that little girl for me."

Karen told Thorn while grinning evilly, letting out a sultry laugh of pleasure from hearing Thorn's scheme, "You are definitely the demonic goddess in this age of fools, Thorn. Mavis is no longer physically alive, and no one has as much Fairy Magic as she did for you to be stopped like last time. Fairy Tail is going to end up falling to ruin, and then the world will be ours while you replace Zeref as The Killing Mage in this world. After all, Thorn, we both know that you created the legendary item that has the curse of immortality on it."

Thorn answered back in a scheming manner while putting on some black lipstick, before having a wicked smile on her face, "My book is indeed immortal to serve the one who can open it, and the spells in my book possess the power to create delightful disasters. I'm so glad to be helping my young blonde descendant complete the book, and I even sensed her using the ultimate spells of my Lightning Magic earlier. She and I are related, but we couldn't be more different because of her goddamn niceness. She refuses to give in to the darkness, but I think she'll like the evil side of magic after I take over her body. Lucy Heartfilia is the most important piece on my chessboard, after all. Maybe I can make her boyfriend of light cater to my every whim as well, and he's the promoted pawn beside the queen. I play a dark and devilish game, Karen."

From hearing and seeing all of that, Gray could only drop his jaw in utter shock while he began to tremble slightly. Thorn, the one who was disguised as a new mage in Fairy Tail, was the same woman who nearly killed Natsu and Erza in the tag-team battle on the fourth day of the Grand Magic Games? She was not only planning to destroy the guild, but she had killed the person who presumably got rid of Lisanna? Had she killed Evergreen and Elfman, too? On top of that, Thorn was related to Lucy in an ancestral way?

Gray now knew that he had every right to be suspicious of Thorn from the start, and he was right about the fact that she was only using Natsu. The ice mage felt a slight chill in the air when he had heard that Thorn would kill Natsu, but why tell that to the fire dragon slayer when he might be too infatuated with the demonic woman to believe Gray's words? Right now, the black-haired male looked stern while narrowing his dark blue eyes about this situation. He had to let Lucy and Sting know that they were in pretty deep danger, and he had to tell them before it would be too late.

As Thorn sunk down into the shadow of a bird flying overhead, she whispered softly to Karen in a vicious tone while sensing something and maintaining her wicked smile to give a false sense of security to a certain eavesdropper, "By the way, the shadows have told me that a silent little fly was buzzing around our plans. No need to get alarmed, though. I'll crush that little fly, and you can assist me with taking care of any other pests that try to get in our way."

* * *

**20 minutes later, back at the beach...**

Sting had awoken to the taste of chocolate cookies, and he looked amazed while beginning to chew the delicious treats that were in his mouth. He sat up straight and blushed at the sight of Lucy still looking beautiful in her lacy white bra and lacy white panties, and she was currently taking the cans of Coca-Cola out of the wooden picnic basket. She had set everything down on the pink tablecloth that Sting had put in the basket for their romantic picnic, and Lucy had joy in her cocoa brown eyes while enjoying the delicious taste of a cheeseburger in her hands. There was a box of salty french fries in front of her, too.

As Sting finished chewing the chocolate cookies and swallowing them, he stretched his arms high above his head and yawned loudly to get the attention of his girlfriend. Sting smiled confidently at the fact that Lucy had not only beaten him in a fight, but she had set up everything in a pretty organized way. There were cheeseburgers, hot dogs, rice balls, boxes of salty french fries, steaks on plates, fish sticks, nachos covered in hot cheese, potato chips, a box of cheese pizza, chicken tenders, chocolate cookies, chocolate brownies, vanilla cupcakes, ten slices of red velvet cake, sugar cookies with green icing, jelly beans, and six cans of Coca-Cola. Every single food item was on its respective plate, and there had been many plates and tons of space in the large wooden picnic basket. Really, did Sting love Lucy that much to get such a large basket for a romantic date?

The white dragon slayer noticed that Lucy had also set her yellow spell book down on top of the picnic basket that was now closed up, and he remembered that this date was not only for romance. He had to find out more about the book, and Sting also needed to find out more information about Karen. He knew that just openly starting things off with questions about Karen or Thorn might make Lucy feel pretty uncomfortable, and he was trying to increase the love that he had with the blonde mage.

While Sting took three chicken tenders off of their plate and ate them, he looked over at Lucy to see her happily blushing while eating another cheeseburger. She giggled with joy while enjoying the delicious taste of it, and Sting was very glad to have bought the highest quality of every single food item for his appreciative girlfriend. He even tasted the chicken tenders that he had bought, finding them to be very crispy and delicious, prompting him to grin in satisfaction at how the food was at gourmet level.

With happiness in her beautiful cocoa brown eyes, Lucy exclaimed to Sting in a joyful tone while looking pleased about how the food tasted, "Sting, you really went to great lengths to make this a very romantic date for us! You've really showed me the depths of your devotion for our relationship, and I should do the same for you someday. You're such a great boyfriend, and I can tell you anything. You're always so confident, calm, smart, patient, and you make me feel so incredibly happy with feelings of love."

Sting responded kindly with calmness in his blue eyes that looked a bit relaxed like the sea, smiling proudly at the fact that his girlfriend had thought so highly of him, "I'm glad to be devoted to helping a great girl like you, Lucy. I want to make you feel happy in every way possible, and this date is just as romantic as the time when we had our first kiss at the cafe. It was my first time getting kissed by a girl, and I'm glad that the girl was you. You make me feel happy, too, and I can't thank you for all the times that you've been there for me. You're so awesome, cool, hot, smart, and I love you enough to where cupcake frosting would look cute on your face."

He was about to grab a red velvet cupcake to put some white icing on Lucy's mouth, but Sting curiously looked at Lucy when he saw her left hand romantically touch his right hand. Lucy grabbed the cupcake with her other hand, and she simply ate all the icing off of it while smiling at Sting. She then proceeded to give him a warm kiss on the lips, her arms wrapping around his waist while she pulled him closer to her, and Lucy blushed cherry red while she felt the sun's rays heat up her body as her breasts were now pressing against Sting's chest. They were still in their constraints, however, so neither Lucy or Sting really had anything to worry about.

As the white dragon slayer returned the kiss to his blonde girlfriend, Sting knew that he couldn't ruin a warm summer day like this by making Lucy feel uncomfortable. She was having fun on this romantic date with him, enjoying the relaxation time that they were spending together, and Sting also could guess that Lucy probably did not even know Karen's ulterior motives for giving her the strange spell book. However, if the two main protagonists could not figure it out, the bright light would eventually reveal the dark shadows to them. Right now, they were simply enjoying the warmth of the sun and the rekindled flames of love that they cutely showed for each other.

* * *

**How was the 31st chapter? Did you like it? Sting and Lucy have rekindled their flames of love, and the romance of the StiCy is now back to being focused on! I apologize if Sting did not seem strong in the battle, but his new skills will be shown later in the story. I know it's getting kind of long, but at least development will occur. I also hope you're enjoying the Fairy Tail side of this arc as well, since it has its importance. Anyway, standby for the next update!**


	32. Chapter 32

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does. This story was made for fun, and not for cash. (How unfortunate.)**

* * *

**Chapter 32: Thorn's Malice, Gray's Message**

* * *

The next morning, Lucy had been standing in front of the golden request board at the Sabertooth guild while she was trying to pick a great job for her and Sting to do today. She had really enjoyed the romantic date that he had planned for her yesterday, and their battle on the beach was certainly a fun fight that they would both never forget. Lucy and Sting had even gotten to relax under the summer sun together, taking in the glorious sunlight, and the warm heat from it was feeling really wonderful to them.

The blonde mage smiled happily while she still could not forget the delicious taste of all the food that Sting had brought in the wooden picnic basket for their date, and Lucy hadn't even cared if she had gotten at least a little bit chubby after eating so much of that food. It all had tasted so heavenly, matching the quality of gourmet food that could be found in high-class restaurants, and Lucy had even blushed a light shade of pink after letting out a pretty loud belch to let Sting know that she really appreciated all of his hard work.

The loving flames of their relationship had definitely been rekindled after yesterday, making Lucy remember that love was the real key to her becoming stronger, and her chemistry with Sting had grown. She even kissed his lips softly while they were relaxing on the beach, and it felt so wonderful to hold his hands while giggling at the fact that he had gotten some chocolate from the cookies on his face. Lucy had licked it off of his left cheek, tasting the sweetness of the cookie, and Sting had kissed her left cheek as a response for doing something so kind.

Since Sting had done something so great for her yesterday, including the fact that he helped her unlock the four fusion spells of Lightning Magic, Lucy's happy smile turned into a softer one while she blushed a bit and knew that she really needed to repay her awesome boyfriend for going out of his way to give her that relaxing day of romance on the beach. After all, if she just kept on taking all of his gifts and treats that he gave to her without doing anything romantic in return, it wouldn't really put that feeling of caring into their lovely relationship.

As Lucy was thinking about what she had to do for Sting, the blonde girl's cocoa brown eyes widened in shock from remembering that she had to pick a job for them to go on today. Sting really would not care about what the job would be or where it would be, since he just wanted Lucy to help him give his wallet a pretty nice refill after he had spent so much cash on all of that food for their romantic day at the beach. This job was going to be a great way for Lucy to show Sting how much she cared for him, and she simply unpinned a forest green flyer from the request board because of its unusual color.

Before Lucy could even begin reading about the task that was written on the flyer, Sting had been peeking over her shoulder the entire time with confidence in his blue eyes before telling her in a kind tone to alert her to his presence, "Good morning, Lucy. I hope that you enjoyed our nice day at the beach yesterday, and something just tells me that you've picked out a pretty sweet job for us to do today. Knowing you, it's probably going to be totally awesome with a whole bunch of criminals to fight or treasures that need to be found."

She replied nicely while giggling a bit, before turning around to give Sting a warm hug for everything that he had done yesterday, "Hi, Sting. I haven't even read this flyer yet, so I don't know what the quest will want us to do. I guess that I forgot to sit with you and the others while I had my waffles for breakfast, so I did not see you. Anyway, let's just hope that this job will give us tons of money. It might be a little bit difficult for me, but I know that I'll feel so much better when you're by my side."

While Lucy began to read the info on the forest green flyer, Sting was smiling nicely at how his girlfriend always picked out a good selection of clothes to look great every day. She wore a light green T-shirt while matching it with a beautiful dark green miniskirt, and Lucy wore some emerald green flat shoes as well. She was certainly dressed in the color of green, but there were no signs that she had any feelings of envy. Lucy felt very energetic today, confident and ready to win like she always was, making Sting look pretty glad to have chosen her as his girlfriend.

He was definitely happy to have picked a great girl who was so nice and smart, but Sting narrowed his blue eyes for a few moments while taking notice of the yellow spell book that Lucy had held in her right hand. He had not wanted to ask her about it yesterday, since she was having so much fun at the beach and wanted to improve their relationship just as much as he did, and Sting did not want to make her feel uncomfortable by asking about Karen. However, he was definitely going to get some answers today.

After all, the white dragon slayer found it very strange that Karen would give a spell book to someone who could only open it if they had a heart that was warm and bright like the light from valuable gold. They also needed to have a soul that was pure like silver as well, which definitely made Sting start thinking. If a book like that was supposedly needed to be wielded by someone who was so pure and good, then why in the world did it have that eighth dark power inside of it? Why had that shadowy perfume been necessary to call forth that vicious energy that nearly killed Natsu and Erza on the fourth day of the Grand Magic Games?

Judging by how that liquid had presumably been made from shadows themselves, Sting could only guess that it was no ordinary substance that Lucy had pulled out when she had just wanted to take a slight break from fighting. However, Natsu had to be a real jerk and knock the book out of her hands. The perfume was knocked out of her hands as well, and the liquid had only poured into the eighth section of the spell book. By normal logic, the black liquid should have spread to the other pages as well. However, why did the shadowy substance get a section of its own and cause Lucy to be under Thorn's control when the black spells were used?

Sting knew all about Lucy being Thorn's descendant, and the white dragon slayer found it a little too strange that Karen had given the spell book to his blonde girlfriend like she knew that Lucy could probably break the seal. Also, the fact that Karen had showed up at the Grand Magic Games was also very odd. She and her crew had been playing dirty against Fairy Tail and the other teams, but they always left Team Sabertooth alone. It was almost like they were observing them instead of opposing them, or Karen had solely been keeping her eyes on Lucy to see her progress with the book.

As Sting was still in his thoughts, he was suddenly taken out of them when Lucy had grabbed his hand to run out of Sabertooth's entrance doors with him to do the job that would be her way of thanking him for that romantic date yesterday. He could tell that she was definitely looking forward to doing this great job, and she was planning to do her best today. Sting could tell that she was oblivious of how odd the book really was, however, and Sting was going to shed some bright light on these shadowy mysteries. As he was running towards the northern route with Lucy, Sting took notice of how her spell book changed from being yellow to green now.

* * *

**In Hakutai Town...**

Gray had been passing through Hakutai Town, a town that had been created by wielders of Plant Magic who moved to Fiore from the town of Tokiwa that was in the faraway land of Kanto, and there were many trees with beautiful green leaves on them. There were bushes with different kinds of berries on them, and there was even a grassy park with beautiful flowers planted in it. Butterflies fluttered through the air, gently landing on some flowers, and Gray also took notice of the fact that this place also had shops that made sweet-smelling perfumes out of leaves, berries, fruits, and flowers.

He had taken this long route to reach Castelia Town from Magnolia Town by train, and going by boat would just be a pretty obvious mode of transportation. Gray had left earlier this morning, as soon as Thorn had left with Natsu to go on a job somewhere, and he had waited until that moment to not arouse any form of suspicion from Thorn. Not only had Gray been stalking her all the way to the back streets of Magnolia with a trail of ice shards yesterday, but he had been eavesdropping on her conversation with Karen.

The black-haired male was utterly shocked to learn that Lucy was a descendant of Thorn, and the blonde mage was currently in possession of her ancestor's book. He had also heard about the plot to take down Fairy Tail, and Gray was really more concerned with the fact that Thorn was going to take over the body of Lucy when the spell book was completed. Based on the strange powers and high-level energies within the spell book, if Thorn did manage to take control of Lucy in some way, then the demonic woman would probably be nearly unstoppable.

With determination in his dark blue eyes, Gray ran through the town while he knew full well that he had to find Lucy and tell her this critical information. She probably had no idea that Thorn had now been existing behind a disguise as a teenage girl, and Lucy also would obviously not be informed that completing the spell book would be what Thorn wanted her to do. She was going to take over the body of the blonde mage, possibly turning Lucy evil in the process, but Gray was not going to let an evil woman control one of his closest friends in her plot to take over the world and start an era of darkness.

He knew that Hakutai was not that far from Castelia, only having to go through the Yaguruma Forest to reach a lookout station that led into that town, and Gray was also going to let Lucy know what Cana and Lisanna had told the Fairy Tail guild about Karen. She was not a mage from Team Sweet Melancholy at all, and those girls on her team were shadowy doppelgangers of the originals. Karen was also Thorn's ally, so Lucy and the guild of Sabertooth needed to know that. Since Erza was now the lone member of the original Team Natsu, Gray had left her a letter that would explain everything that he had seen and heard.

As the ice mage was running on a straight path, now heading towards the fashion stores in the town of Hakutai, he was suddenly brought to a screeching halt by an ominous shadowy black puddle that began to form in front of him. A second puddle began to form beside that one, making Gray gasp in complete shock at what was happening, and he took a few steps back while getting his Ice-Make Magic ready. The fact that these shadows were now appearing in front of him, thanks to the sunlight, only made Gray scowl in frustration from what he was assuming right now.

In a few seconds, Thorn and Karen respectively rose out of the first and second shadowy puddles to greet Gray. He looked very surprised to see them here, now standing in his way, and the ice mage definitely had to wonder about what was going on. Thorn had been in her teenage form when she had taken Natsu out on a job with her, and now she was in her adult form to handle this more personal matter. The fact that she evilly glared at Gray meant that this was serious, and Karen's calm smile with her malicious giggle certainly did not make this situation seem any better.

Thorn asked Gray in a dark tone of voice, maintaining her evil and angry glare with malice in her blood red eyes, "Hello there, Gray Fullbuster from the guild of fairy trash. Did you make it back safely to your guild of gullible idiots, after you were done spying on us in the back alley yesterday? Are you really that dimwitted to think that Karen would not notice the trail of ice shards you made in your quest to stalk me and find out if your suspicions of me were true? Did you not see her shadowy abilities in the tournament? You certainly don't drop your guard around supposedly new members, do you?"

The ice mage responded calmly with a stern look on his face, certainly not in the mood to explain himself or have any chitchat with Thorn, "Shut your mouth, and don't even try to pull any acts of innocence with what I'm about to say. You're pretty rotten to the core, Thorn, especially since you plan to use Lucy as your way of taking down the Fairy Tail guild for revenge. I see why Mavis would have to kill someone like you, since you and your friend do things in such shady ways, and I'll make history somewhat repeat itself for you if that's what it takes to keep a malicious leech like you away from Lucy."

Even though Gray's words were full of seriousness, the ice mage meaning every word that came out of his mouth in those three sentences, Thorn simply made her glare change into an amused smirk. She really could not believe that this boy was actually thinking of taking her down, and Thorn really saw Gray as nothing more than an idiot who would regret his words. However, he had listened in on a private conversation about the plans that she had for Fairy Tail and Lucy. Thorn did not want her plan to fall apart because of this mouthy and icy little pest, so he had to be kept quiet for good.

Thorn gave Gray a confident look, letting know that she would accept his little challenge, and the ice mage started things off with a spell known as Ice-Make: Shotgun. Gray utilized some nearby water in the grassy park's fountain of water that was beautifully flowing, and he shot it all at Thorn in the form of large and thick spears of ice. Many shards of ice were now coming straight at Thorn, making it pretty hard to presumably dodge Gray's attack, but the ice mage looked amazed to see Thorn simply look below his shards of ice and make their own shadows pull them down into the darkness forever.

He was stunned by her ability to manipulate many shadows so easily, but Gray would soon feel Thorn's wrath. She used the Wind Magic from the spell book to make seven leaves blow from the trees towards her, floating in a circle above her head, and the black-haired woman sent all of the leaves towards Gray with a real cutting edge boost of air to give him a little surprise. The leaves were spinning rapidly while they flew towards Gray at high speeds, and the ice mage screamed in pain while the paths of leaves made sharp cuts on his arms. When they hit the ground, the leaves exploded in forest green blasts of energy that also turned emerald green.

That spell was known as Plant Demon's Leaf Cutter, and this meant that Thorn could now use Plant Magic after infusing her Wind Magic into the power of the leaves. This was only her weakest spell of Plant Magic, but it could have been the first fusion spell of Wind Magic as well. When two elements in the book share similar shades of the same color, the weakest spell of the second element can either become the first element's fusion spell or be an added attack to the first element's weakest attack spell. Either way, this was not good news for Gray.

Deciding that the long-range approach would probably get him nowhere, Gray used another spell known as Ice-Make: Hammer. This spell made him create a hammer out of ice, and it floated high in midair above Thorn's head. Gray slammed his right fist down on his left palm, hoping that this would crush the malicious demon and freeze her solid, but Thorn quickly used Gray's mistake to her advantage. She quickly sunk down into the hammer's shadow, safe from any damage, and she reappeared in the same spot where she had been standing to see large shards of ice all over the ground.

Now that she had a chance to attack once again, Thorn used a new spell of Plant Magic that known as Root Remover. This spell made several brown spiky plant roots emerge from underground, grabbing up all of Gray's ice shards, and the roots constricted them with enough force to break them before self-destructing in forest green blasts that turned emerald green from the infusion of air. Thorn breathed in all of the green smoke, since it was actually a side effect in the form of botanical healing gas, and a forest green aura surrounded her body while she had more stamina than before.

Gray was certainly dealing with a tricky foe, and the ice mage knew that he had to be really careful in this fight. He remembered how the spells in Lucy's book were far from predictable or normal, so he did not know what Thorn would do next. Gray just knew that he had to be the one to stop her from taking over Lucy's body, or else his friend would definitely be doomed. If close combat couldn't cut it, what about speed? Narrowing his dark blue eyes, Gray now chose to use Ice-Make: Ice Impact to see if Thorn could disappear faster than he could freeze her.

He brought his right fist down on his left palm again, making an intricately-designed hammer of ice be brought down on Thorn from the sky. The hammer came down on Thorn at high speeds, faster than she could dodge it, and the powerful impact made a huge crater appear in the ground that was now broken up. Gray had to wonder why Karen smiled at the sight of her best friend having been crushed by that quick and large hammer, but he knew that this round was now over. However, had he truly been the winner of it?

The ice mage noticed that Thorn was bleeding out green goop instead of the usual red blood, and the goop was surprisingly moving upward towards the large hammer of ice. This green goop was also bubbling with burning hot steam coming out of it, and Gray could only look horrified to see it all eating away at his hammer of ice with its corrosive properties. When it was all melted away, the real Thorn Heartfilia was revealed to have used a spell known as Plant Acid to fool Gray while she slowly emerged headfirst from the bark of a nearby tree.

She explained in a calm manner while giggling at Gray's futile attempts to defeat her, the sadistic pleasure of killing him beginning to show in her blood red eyes, "I do not just move through shadows, you foolish child. I have killed many demons, absorbing their abilities along with their different types of magic, and their powers are now made malleable into many spells by me. The pawn that is the prey should not get so comfortable, especially when it stands before the presence of a much larger piece that serves as its predator."

Gray responded sternly, not looking there was really anything to laugh about in this situation, "Don't screw around with me, you demonic bitch! You think that this is all some big joke?! You're not going to end up taking away people's lives because of a grudge that you hold against Fairy Tail, and I don't care about how much power you need to become a mage that's stronger than Zeref! You may be the ancestor of Lucy, but she'll be nothing like you and your darkness! Her heart and soul are not things for you to use for your own personal gain, and I will protect my friend!"

Upon hearing those words come out of his mouth, Thorn's evil giggle turned into a very serious glare. Gray was not planning on giving up anytime soon, and the fact that he thought she could be stopped by him was making Thorn think that Gray assumed they were evenly matched because neither side had managed to land any major hits on the other. If he was going to underestimate her like this, thinking that she was no real killer of demons back in the past, then Thorn would simply have to show him what the punishment would be for trying to screw up her plans.

She used her fourth spell of Plant Magic, and it was a bit unorthodox. This spell made many of the fruits on the trees become surrounded by a green aura, and eight oranges floated from eight different directions into Thorn's hands. She simply threw them all at Gray, hoping that he would think that she was starting to get desperate, and her technique to trick him had worked. Gray quickly made a sword out of ice appear in his left hand, and he sliced up all of the oranges into perfect slices. There were now forty-eight slices around the ice mage, but something was odd. Why did Thorn use fruit?

Gray really questioned her level of intelligence, until the black-haired woman snapped her fingers to make all of those fruit slices explode in forest green blasts of energy that had enough power to destroy the nearby buildings! Gray screamed in intense pain from taking so much damage from all of those blasts transpiring around him with so much magical power in them, and they had even torn his purple shirt into shreds. He could feel the explosions burning him all over, ironic for a spell of Plant Magic, and Gray fell to his knees while being heavily bruised. That spell was known as Fruity Bombs, and it certainly wasn't meant to be eaten.

Even though Gray was badly wounded now, this was only the beginning of Thorn's torture. She proceeded to use her fifth spell of Plant Magic, and it was known as Vine Rapier. This spell made Thorn have two green vines growing from her palms, and the vines were in the form of rapiers. The bright sunlight allowed Thorn's speed to increase while a green aura surrounded her body, and she quickly slashed at Gray's arms and legs while her vines were sharp enough to make deep cuts on his body. She could use close combat moves as well, you know.

However, her torture was not going to end there. Thorn activated her sixth spell of Plant Magic, and it was known as Bullet Seed. She spat out twenty seeds, making them travel along an air current in a curved trajectory, and they came down upon Gray from above! He attempted to quickly make a dome out of ice to shield himself from the attack, but Thorn's seeds were way too fast! As Gray fell over on his stomach, the seeds struck him in the back while making miniature forest green explosions transpire on his back when the seeds landed on him.

The seeds had enough power to rip through his skin, making the ice mage begin to bleed, and he looked frustrated while wondering if he would die at the hands of blood loss or at the hands of Thorn's Plant Demon Magic. She now decided to use her seventh spell, and it was known as Rose's Sweet Cease. This spell made some nearby red roses send out a very sweet smell that traveled on the wind towards Gray, and the ice mage began to feel his magical power become fully restored while suddenly feel his body become paralyzed by the scent of those roses as well. He also felt himself becoming dizzy, too, and this spell caused paralysis with confusion as an added effect. Even though it could heal someone's strength, it also immobilized them as a way of torturing them.

Gray told Thorn in an irritated tone, looking annoyed at the fact that she was just torturing him for her own enjoyment, "You're not very strong at all, Thorn. Your spells may be pretty powerful, but you're just a user who plays of chess very slowly. You drag out this game longer than necessary, and you're really making me want to make an ice spear be thrown up in the air for you to move through the shadows to get your distant butt over here. If you're so tough, get it over with. Stop wasting my time."

As she heard the rude request from her irritated and immobilized opponent, Thorn could not agree more. It certainly was time for her to put an end to this, and that mouthy ice mage was going to be silenced permanently. She activated her eighth and final spell of Plant Magic, and it was simply known as Plant Demon's Sunlight Punishment. It caused some clouds to move away from the sun, letting it shine down on the town, and a large beam of solar energy came down from the sun to strike Gray directly!

A massive blast of emerald green energy had transpired, its air waves being strong enough to obliterate buildings while also making more emerald green blasts occur, and Karen covered her eyes while she heard Gray's final scream of pain. The other citizens in Hakutai Town thought that there was an earthquake going on, since it shook the town for a few minutes, and some trees had even been sliced in half by the explosive blades of air. The town was now heavily damaged, possibly needing magic from Crocus to repair everything, but what was the result of Thorn's battle with Gray?

The green smoke was all quickly inhaled by Thorn, since she needed to replenish her magical power after using up so much of it, and she walked towards Gray with Karen at her side while glaring at him in pure anger with malice in her eyes. She did not care if he was still breathing or if he was already dead, but Thorn knew one thing for sure. She was going to have possession of Lucy's body, and she was also going to get rid of Gray's. Thorn made a shadowy black puddle appear near him, and it began to expand while Karen picked up Gray in her arms before throwing him into the dark puddle where he would never be seen again.

When she suddenly sensed the familiar magical power of the spell book approaching, Thorn simply smirked evilly while sinking down into the darkness. With another pawn now being taken care of, her plan would now go much more smoothly. However, Gray proved himself to be more of a white knight who wanted to stop Thorn's little scheme. However, all fairies were still pawns to Thorn. She was going to get them all eliminated from this deadly game of chess, and the black-haired woman was determined to make her plan succeed.

* * *

**15 minutes later...**

After Thorn had fled the scene with Gray's body now in the shadows, Lucy had arrived in Hakutai Town with Sting. She had a bit of trouble navigating through the dense Yaguruma Forest, since it had many mossy trees and fallen tree stumps that had gotten in the way, but Sting had managed to guide her out of the forest without having any major problems. The copious amount of bugs in the forest had certainly made Lucy become a bit scared, shuddering in disgust when she accidentally stepped in a large centipede's slime, but what she would see afterwards was sure to be more scarier than any bug in Fiore.

When Lucy and Sting entered the town of Hakutai, they were both utterly shocked to see that most of the buildings in the town were completely destroyed like Natsu had been reckless enough to try and stop a criminal by destroying the town. However, there was no fire to really show any evidence of him possibly being here. Lucy's brown eyes widened in amazement to see craters on the ground, fallen trees breaking apart, and the strong smell of roses had blown through the air to reach her nostrils.

She had wanted to come here on a romantic date with Sting, eager to frolic in the meadow and pick flowers with him, but it seemed like that plan would definitely be going to waste because of the town being so badly damaged. There were even a few ice shards on the ground, but there was no indication that anyone was trying to freeze this town. The sliced up trees also looked like they had been cut by some kind of air attack, since Sting could tell the difference between a slice from a sword and the slice from air.

As Sting looked around to inspect the damage, he knew that going back to the Sabertooth guild to get Rufus would be a very good idea in this situation. He had a few Memory-Make Magic abilities that could be used on what he did not need for any attacks, and using him to figure out what happened here would be a very good strategy. Before Sting could even get the chance to comfort his shocked and disappointed girlfriend, the emerald green spell book turned forest green like pale green moss, and it began to glow in that new color.

Lucy opened up the spell book to not only see that there were four new fusion spells of Wind Magic, but there had been eight spells of Plant Magic that did not tie to Wind Magic. The book had informed Lucy that these spells could be classified as more spells of Wind Magic, since air was required for the plants to really be useful, or they could become forgotten to not give Lucy too many types of magic while having their spells as added effects of her spells of Wind Magic to give it a dual-type power boost. (I know that seems unfair right now, but all the types will get their own power boost in the end without some of them having to be dual-types.)

The blonde mage chose the second option, not wanting to show any favoritism or preference for either of the two types of magic in the green section of spells, and the book understood her wishes. Lucy wanted to form a good bond with every type of magic in her book, and the spell book itself simply made the rule of Lucy getting to put plant-based abilities in her wind attacks. She chose this as the best option, since there would probably be enemies like Chelia who could eat the demonic wind if she emptied out all her magical power, and Plant Magic as an aftereffect would become pretty shocking to anybody.

The four fusion spells of Wind Magic were now infused with Plant Magic, thus creating an actual fusion of different abilities unlike with fire and bombs or rocks with sand. The section for Wind Magic still remained at having twelve spells instead of twenty, like with the other three types of magic that had gotten their power-ups, and the magic followed the book's rule of doubling the strength of the dominant types of magic in that event. They also used double the amount of power than normal spells, so Lucy would have to train hard if she did not want to rely on healing spells to be able to dish out more attacks.

While Lucy was thinking about what she could do to make up for this stormy disappointment happening on the day after Sting took her on a romantic date, the white dragon slayer walked to the scene where it looked like the fight had mainly occurred. The fashion stores were nearly destroyed, having broken glass lodged in some of the hats and shoes, but Sting was more curious about the fact that a piece of paper had been intact inside the pocket of a badly torn purple shirt that had been on the ground. What in the world was this doing here?

Sting took the folded piece of paper out from the shirt pocket, feeling it to be intact with an invincibility spell presumably placed on it, and he narrowed his blue eyes while looking calm before reading it aloud for Lucy to overhear, "Hello, Lucy. If you are reading this, I have written it with Thought Ink because I could not find any pencils or pens to write with in the guild. You need to listen to me very carefully, since anything else about this might not be so believable to you. Karen Melancholia knows everything about the book, and she's not telling you everything you need to know. She has been using you like a puppet, stringing you along for her own gain."

Upon hearing those words, Lucy looked utterly shocked at what Sting had read off of that letter. Karen had been manipulating her the entire time, just using her like she was nothing more than a tool that would eventually be dropped like a piece of trash? Lucy narrowed her cocoa brown eyes, angered by the fact that she had to deal with yet another fake friendship in her life, and she ran over to Sting's side to see that the writing from the ink that wrote down thoughts to reveal them had written it all in the handwriting of her friend who was known as Gray Fullbuster.

As Lucy looked down to see that Sting had clearly gotten the note from the purple shirt that Gray must've been wearing, the blonde mage began to put some of her assumptions together. Gray had found out some important information that Karen was hiding from Lucy, so Karen got rid of the ice mage to keep things quiet. She did not want any of her plot to get out, not wanting Lucy to be on to her scheme, but the blonde mage narrowed her brown eyes while knowing that messing with her friends was where things would get serious. Lucy was now determined to get even with Karen, and she would also get some much-needed answers.

* * *

**How was Chapter 32? Did you like it? I sincerely apologize to any fans of Gray in this story for not making him be a match for Thorn, but he will be revived at the end of the story. I also plan to improve the StiCy, since the next chapter will be where Sting and Lucy use their first Unison Raid out of chemistry. Will Lucy get back at the double-crosser who she first crossed a new path with? Will Gray's note to Erza lead to a concurrent battle for retribution? Who ends up saving her? Standby for the update!**


	33. Chapter 33

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does. This story was made for fun, and not for cash. (How unfortunate.)**

* * *

**Chapter 33: Calm and Windy, Cool and Tricky**

* * *

Lucy and Sting sat down at a table in the Sabertooth guild, starting off this new day with two cups of hot chocolate to drink for breakfast, and they were both eating plates of delicious waffles covered in maple syrup. They definitely needed to have breakfast this morning, since this was now the day after Lucy and Sting had found out that Hakutai Town had been destroyed in what seemed to be a set of powerful blasts. It also seemed like the air had been used to slice up the town as well, since it did seem like a slicing object had destroyed those trees.

Lucy still had Gray's note with her, having it down on the brown round table, and she still seemed very miffed about the fact that Karen was supposedly using her like a puppet. The blonde mage really hated coming across anyone who seemed to be nothing more than a person who shared the ideals of her former friend named Natsu Dragneel, and she really could not believe that Karen had just been using her the entire time for some strange purpose. It honestly made no sense to Lucy, making her groan in frustration.

For one thing, she was the only one who was capable of reading the spells in the strange book. Even Karen seemed unable to read anything in the book when she had first given it to Lucy, and the woman with silvery-blue hair had stated herself that the book would only work for the one who was able to break its magical seal to open it up. Since Karen had even stated that the book would not open for someone like her, there was really no way for her to even use the spells. Lucy would be the one becoming stronger, you know.

Also, Karen seemed really nice to Lucy when they first met. She was not manipulative at all, just wanting to see if the girl with cocoa brown eyes was capable of reading the book. If Lucy had not been able to read the book from the very beginning, then Karen would have just gone on her merry way. In fact, even though Lucy had never really taken notice of it, Karen had been watching over her while not even trying to attack her at any point. If somebody really wanted power, then wouldn't they just try to take it for themselves?

There actually was a type of magic for transferring souls, allowing the user to take over an opponent's body, but Karen had the ability of moving through shadows. She was not capable of manipulating the hearts and souls of people, because she would have taken a pure soul and taken it for herself while switching it out with her own. That would definitely make her become capable of reading the book, and Karen could also get her hands on it if she was able to swap hearts. However, she was incapable of doing either of those tasks.

Lucy asked Sting in a frustrated manner, having her hands on her head while sighing, "Why did Gray have to leave us with this note, Sting? Seriously, why did he not just bring the paper and ink along with him to tell us who he was fighting? Wouldn't that have made a lot more sense, instead of informing me about how Karen is supposedly using me? This just makes no sense at all to me, and I'm so worried about Gray right now. It's not like him to fight somebody, but just leave something behind. He's a good friend who would stick around to tell me what happened."

While Sting was also curious about that note, he also had to wonder why neither Gray or the opponent would be around at the scene of the fight. He knew that Karen was up to something, having told Lucy so much about the book and who Thorn was, but why would the supposed antagonist be trying to get rid of Gray? Sting could tell that something was definitely off about this whole thing, and he really had to wonder if what he and Lucy saw was what had actually happened in the town of Hakutai.

Even though Sting was really suspicious of Karen, wondering what exactly her intentions would be for Lucy and the book, he also wondered why she would possibly try to get rid of Gray. If he had found out her intentions, that would be a plausible reason to get him out of the way, but would she really go about it in the cliched manner with people finding Gray's disappearance to be suspicious? Sting could tell that the book was a very important clue in all of this, and it was holding some of the keys to the mysteries surrounding it.

"Listen, Lucy. Do not stress yourself out about this, ok? Getting riled up is exactly what Karen or any prankster would want you to do right now, and don't fall for their trap. You should never fall for obvious bait like that, since all that it is really going to do is just drive you crazy. After all, look at how the pieces just do not add up here. You once told me how your friend Gray is pretty smart, and he wouldn't do anything stupid like fighting Karen head-on. Her skills are unorthodox, like yours, but I have yet to see her use any actual attacks."

From hearing Sting's advice, Lucy's cocoa brown eyes widened from that realization. She had remembered from watching the Grand Magic Games that Karen could not really use any attacks, merely using the shadows to help her like assist spells, and she was not really the fighter on Team Sweet Melancholy. She had been using those shadowy replicas of the original girls to help her in the tournament, using them like four pawns, and all that Karen had done was merely use the shadows to pull someone down into a hole or send them flying high into the air. Therefore, she could not have killed Gray or caused that much damage to the town of Hakutai.

Lucy was very glad that she had Sting with her to help her figure out this mystery, since she really felt like it would be impossible to handle this on her own. Either way, Lucy could now tell that the note she had received was definitely real. It probably was from Gray, since Lucy did know his handwriting, but what had stopped him from delivering this note to her? On top of that, had Gray even gotten the right information? Lucy had heard once from Sting that disinformation could be worse than having no information at all, and nothing could really be assumed until every piece was in its place on the chessboard.

To calm his girlfriend down, Sting informed her that they were now going to train at a new place for her to test out those new fusion spells of Wind Magic. The book had now merged Lucy's Wind Magic with Plant Magic to give it a very decent power boost, but it was also going to let Lucy know that this would not really be much of a big power boost for when tougher people would come along. Besides, Lucy also knew that Plant Magic was one of the most conditional types of magic. It could only work in a place with plants, so Lucy could possibly not be able to use it in icy areas or mountainous areas.

The blonde mage smiled softly at the fact that Sting would be helping her train once again, and she hoped that their training session would be just as romantic as the day that they had the practice battle on the beach. Sting's large picnic was a really nice lunch for the date, too. Lucy knew Sting would take her out to a good place for their training, especially if it would help her work with an evolved version of her magic. However, she really hoped that the book would not ignore her commands and use the spells that it thought were appropriate for different situations.

As Sting walked towards the entrance doors of the Sabertooth guild with Lucy, the blonde girl checked her appearance in the reflection of a nearby glass window. She currently wore an emerald green T-shirt with a light green miniskirt to match, and her flat shoes were black. She had her hair in a ponytail on the left side of her head, looking quite fashionable as always, and Lucy gave Sting a soft kiss on the lips for helping her handle the issue that surrounded her friend named Karen. While they walked towards the entrance doors, getting closer, Lucy did not notice that the forest green aura for Plant Magic in her spell book had hightailed it out of the group and went off to somewhere else.

* * *

**At the Fairy Tail guild...**

Thorn had finally returned to the Fairy Tail guild after having taken care of Gray for knowing her secret, and she was now back in her teenage form with her hair being a violet color. She had been smiling happily while going over to a table near the guild's entrance doors, knowing that her plan to rule the world was now going to go off without any flaws in it at all, and the antagonist sat down at a table where Natsu was located. Even though she had not been manipulating him much in her quest for power, Thorn still needed a valuable pawn.

She had made Natsu stay away from Hakutai Town yesterday, having left him lost in the forest by confusing him with her Darkness Magic to keep him from seeing what she would be up to in the town that specialized in Plant Magic, and Thorn's little tricks of deception were certainly making things go in her favor. Natsu blushed a light shade of pink while looking at Thorn's beauty, seeing her to be a beautiful woman who just would not reveal all of her strength to him, and he was falling for her dark charms.

Natsu had really began to enjoy going on jobs with Thorn, finding her to be the most useful partner that he had ever been with on a team, and the way how she helped him move through shadows to avoid certain dangers was one of the things that made the fire dragon slayer love the demonic woman. She was not exactly controlling his heart or soul to make him love her, but Thorn was simply playing all of her cards to target his unhappiness. After all, Natsu definitely did need comfort after Lisanna had broken up with him.

Thorn was simply helping him pick up all the pieces of his shattered heart, simply leading him on while making him think that he was freed of all the bad karma that had been following him, but she would definitely reveal to him in the end that any "love" that they had was simply a ruse for Thorn to get what she had really wanted. After all, an ancient sorceress would never need love for the prospect of becoming powerful. Besides, Thorn also did not even really think that Natsu was cute. He was more like the puppy that she kept on its leash, until she would throw it in he trash.

As the violet-haired girl made the shadows emerge from underneath to table with a cup of hot cocoa in it with marshmallows to help her soothe her mind to act like nothing had happened when the rest of the Fairy Tail guild would start panicking about Gray being gone, Thorn's arrogance had really proven that the spells of a demonic sorceress were inferior to the fact that fate could be tempted to make a person really get the shock of their lives. In this case, Thorn was actually getting the surprise of her afterlife.

When she looked around in the guild to see who would be saddened by her chaos, hoping that people would be distraught by Gray while Hakutai Town would be on the news for getting totally destroyed yesterday, Thorn noticed that the guild members were all just sitting at tables and chatting with each other about random topics. She continued to drink from her large cup of hot cocoa, enjoying the chocolate taste, but Thorn nearly choked on it when she heard a certain Rain Woman sigh affectionately while sitting next to the one she loved.

Juvia exclaimed happily with love in her eyes that were blue like beautiful water, as she was listening to Gray's story of how he had succeeded on a job where he had to find fire stones near the volcano on Cinnabar Island yesterday, "Gray-sama, Juvia thinks that you are very brave for what you did! Going into the heat of a volcano for a job, your ice must've melted from being near the heat of it, and Juvia even sees you as being much hotter than lava itself! Gray-sama, your jobs are always really awesome!"

From hearing what Juvia had just happily said, Thorn had accidentally spat out her hot cocoa into Natsu's face while coughing as the rest of her drink managed to smoothly go down her esophagus. She could not believe that Gray was still alive, seeing as she had killed him yesterday, and Thorn knew very well that she had gone down into the shadows with his body to dispose of him. Karen could even be her witness in this whole thing, since she was even there to see Thorn give Gray a very merciless beating.

When Thorn frowned in anger and looked over at the table where Gray and Juvia were both sitting with Erza, she noticed that the ice mage was not even damaged at all. He did not have a single injury or a mark on him, almost like the fight had never happened yesterday, and Thorn clenched her fists with pure rage. She seemed very miffed that someone would go really far to not only have Gray be listening in on her plans, but now somebody was trying to alter her plans in some way that would keep her from achieving total world conquest?

There had to be some explanation for what was happening right now, since it had made no sense to Thorn. She had killed Gray for sure, and even the ice mage himself seemed like he had no recollection of the events that had taken place yesterday. It was almost like something had happened for Gray to not be injured at all, and Thorn knew that she was not weak. She had used enough power to kill him with her Plant Magic being infused with Wind Magic, so it was clear that somebody had to be messing with her plans.

Natsu asked his partner in a calm tone, seeing Thorn look pretty angry right now, "What's wrong, Thorn? What's getting you so upset? You're not interested in that stupid ice stripper, are you? Why are you looking over at Gray like him or Juvia is pissing you off?"

Thorn responded nicely, changing her emotions very quickly to not have Natsu be suspicious of her in any way, "Oh, it's nothing. I was just thinking about how the job really failed yesterday. It was a total failure, and I couldn't even get it done. Whatever happened, I totally underestimated the enemy. I will be more prepared next time, I can promise you that. Natsu, let's go on a job to anywhere right now. We need to do some serious plotting, and I have the perfect plan for you to see how I can succeed after one defeat."

Before Natsu could even respond, Thorn pulled him into the shadows to help him travel with her to wherever their destination may have been. Unknown to Thorn, the real Gray had actually been smirking while he had overheard her conversation with Natsu. He had definitely pulled a good trick on that ancient sorceress, and it was actually a pretty simple trick. When Gray had used the Ice-Make: Ice Impact spell on Thorn yesterday, he had actually made that spell have a little side ally. He knew that beating the person who beat down Natsu and Erza in the tag-team battle was impossible, and Gray knew that Molding Magic gave freedom to its user.

Right before Thorn had used the Plant Acid spell to destroy Gray's third spell, he had actually given a unique ability to Ice Impact. Since it was a spell of Molding Magic, with Gray knowing full well that Thorn would do something unorthodox to counter it, he had matched Thorn's infusion of Wind Magic and Plant Magic by blending two spells of his own. Ice-Make: Ice Impact had been infused with a spell known as Ice-Make: Light Reflector, and that spell showed Gray's reflection in his large icy hammer. The spell caused the real Gray to switch places with the one in the reflection, and the real Gray had actually walked through an ice cave in that reflected dimension to reach Magnolia. (I apologize for the Naruto reference with dimensions to make Gray be non-canon, but please go along with the plot twist.)

Even though he had done this early in the fight, Gray still allowed his clone to have speech skills to fool Thorn. He knew that no one would believe him, if he tried to get on the case of Thorn in her teenage form for trying to stop him, and Gray could tell that this was mainly on Lucy's shoulders now. He also had given Ice-Make: Ice Reflector the ability to restore damage, and the ice shards on the ground actually reflected Hakutai Town before it was damaged for it to be rebuilt after an hour had passed by. That would explain why the town being damaged had not made big news, since it was repaired because of Gray's spell.

Despite Gray's success with evading a very close death at the hands of Thorn, he knew that pure luck was on his side. He had escaped a pretty big beating from Thorn, since he could see all the explosions all the way from the guild of Fairy Tail, and Gray knew that he had to be much more careful with how he would go about doing things now. Trying to convince Natsu that Thorn was just using him for her own personal gain would not work at all, and the ice mage began to see that a demon of shadows could only be countered with an angel of light.

* * *

**Meanwhile...**

In order for Lucy to really get to test out these new spells of Wind Magic, Sting let her know that he would not be her opponent this time. He just wanted Lucy to test out the spells in the grassy countryside near the town of Gateau, and Sting noticed that the wooden windmills that used to be in this area had been replaced with white turbine windmills. He wanted to see just how powerful these new spells could be, making him wonder what would come from them as well, and Sting simply stood by a windmill while smirking confidently at Lucy.

The blonde mage smiled a bit while she knew that things would go well with Sting by her side, and she just had to remember his advice. Stressing about anything would just be causing Lucy to drive herself crazy, and she just needed to be calm like the soft breeze that would sometimes blow through grassy parks with meadows of flowers. She just had to focus on her emotions of confidence, knowing that anger and determination were not always necessary to make the spells work, and Lucy sent her feelings of positive energy into the emerald green spell book.

As the green book began to glow with beams of light in that respective color shining from the words for the first fusion spell of Wind Magic, Lucy shouted out the name of the attack that she was going to use. It was known as Wind Sword, and this spell appeared to be simple. It made a katana appear in Lucy's left hand, and there was nothing to sheathe the metal blade. While Sting thought that Lucy would strike a nearby windmill with it, he looked surprised to see her slice the air like something was there.

In a few seconds, an extremely large green blast of energy transpired all the way down in the pasture where some cows were eating grass. Lucy's jaw dropped in pure amazement while she saw this occur far from where the windmills had been located, and she had checked the emerald green spell book to see that this was a conditionally offensive spell. It was meant to be used on distant foes, since the power of the spell would grow with the amount of distance between the user and the target.

Lucy looked at the green spell book once again, and she was now going to use the second fusion spell of Wind Magic. It was known as Air Vacuum, and this spell caused the blonde girl to inhale a large amount of air into her lungs. She quickly exhaled it all in the form of a massive green vortex of winds, and the wind vortex headed straight for three windmills! When it made contact with them, another emerald green blast transpired! The vortex was powerful enough to obliterate the windmills, but the book also let Lucy know this spell could be used defensively to simply blow enemies far away if they ever got too close.

The third spell had given Lucy the ability to surround a windmill with a large green tornado of wind, and this tornado had actually been used for shielding Lucy from attacks. She could command it to move around the area, and this tornado could reflect projectiles of many kinds back at whoever sent them. When an attack hit the tornado, it would be surrounded by some air to create another large tornado. In other words, this spell could create numerous shields while Lucy could also command the tornadoes to detonate if she wanted them to. They could be moved around by Lucy, too.

The final fusion spell was known as Wind Demon's Miniature Malice, and the name honestly made Lucy blush in slight embarrassment while it made Sting chuckle from hearing it. This spell caused an emerald green ball of wind to float in midair in front of Lucy's face, and the ball soon became surrounded by six light green tornadoes that were half its size. The user, who was Lucy, could fire the tornadoes at the opponent. They may not have looked large now, but they would become bigger upon her command. The tornadoes would spin in a high-speed manner, attacking in any formation that Lucy thought would be appropriate, and six large light green blasts of Wind Magic would occur.

Each one would be bigger than the last, and every blast would make the emerald green sphere grow stronger for it to be in a class of its own. Every blast would create air, and the emerald green sphere would absorb all of that air. It would then increase in power and speed, moving faster every time air was taken in, and Lucy could command the sphere to strike an opponent. When she made it strike a windmill that was distant from her, a tremendous emerald green blast of Wind Magic occurred! Its power was strong enough to send both Lucy and Sting flying into the air, making them be sent far enough to where they landed in the flowery meadow of Gateau Town.

Sting exclaimed with a happy facial expression, having had a soft landing on his back while Lucy had gently landed in his arms, "Whoa, now that is definitely a good way to ride the wind! Lucy, those spells of Wind magic totally rocked! They can not only be used for attacks, but you could use the wind for taking some flying lessons as well. Even though I'm your great boyfriend with so much confidence, I sadly can't teach you how to fly."

Lucy replied nicely while blushing a light shade of pink, giggling at Sting's high levels of confidence while having joy in her cocoa brown eyes, "Thank you so much, Sting! My spells only worked because of me being completely calm, and your advice always helps me out whenever I need it. Even if that incident yesterday was the aftermath of Natsu being totally reckless with a fake note included to tease me, since it really made no sense that Hakutai's supposed destruction did not make headlines in the newspaper, then we're just lucky that we didn't have to deal with him annoying us."

The white dragon slayer blushed a bit from noticing that Lucy was still in his arms, happy that she had the best boyfriend to be with when they were training together, and he simply gave her a kiss on the lips to take away any worries that she might've been hiding from him. It was true that they had not found Karen at all, meaning that they wouldn't get to know everything about the book, but Sting knew that fate would guide him and his girlfriend to the happiest times in their lives. Even though that green book was cursed, it did unintentionally make Sting and Lucy cross paths for their love to bloom like a great blessing.

* * *

**Elsewhere...**

Thorn had kept Natsu down in the shadows while she had to meet with Karen in the back alley of Magnolia to find out about what had happened yesterday during the fight with Gray, and the main antagonist had changed into her adult form while looking miffed. She was not going to let Gray try to spoil her plans for what would end up coming to Lucy, and Thorn knew that she had to try once more to get rid of him. However, getting rid of Gray would require a brand new plan to be made. That took some scheming, and Thorn needed to make some ideas.

She angrily slammed her fist against a wall while taking note of her strong point being manipulation, and not destruction. That was her second-best idea, and Thorn really needed to work on her strategies. After all, that was how Mavis had beaten her in the showdown that they had back in the past. Thorn did not want to relive the feeling of defeat, having been humiliated enough already by Gray mocking her by escaping like that, and she could only guess that the ice decoy had been made somehow by the black-haired male during their short fight.

As Thorn was breathing heavily in frustration at the fact that her plan failed, malice in her blood red eyes, she really had to wonder if Gray had not fled the scene and left some clone of his behind to fight for him. She had made the forest green aura of Plant Magic return into her hands, crushing it into her fists because she merely saw it as filler magic for now, and Thorn began to giggle a bit. She knew that most people in this lifetime were like prey, and the prey always had to save its own skins by distracting the predator with a little decoy. However, how in the world had Gray managed to escape?

Karen explained to Thorn with a calm look on her face while emerging from the shadow of a trash can, smirking while having some joy in her silvery-blue eyes, "Master, you became much too heated by some simple words of determination and friendship that were uttered by the icy decoy that the boy had left for you to fight. He saw you try to brutalize Natsu and Erza in the Grand Magic Games, so he's know that you two are in fairy different leagues. He will not make any bold moves towards you, lest he end up like Lisanna. In other words, you have experienced what is known as a fake-out."

From hearing that revelation, it made Thorn widen her eyes while she began to have an idea and reply to Karen with an evil smirk on her face as she spoke in a cold manner, "In other words, he really does not even know about how much power I truly possess. He evaded me, that's true, but this just makes things far more interesting. I saw no marks on his body, and he would even have the scars if someone had tried to heal him. If he wants to play innocent in this game and be a total bishop to me, then I'll keep using Natsu while taunting the mages of Fairy Tail with a few tastes of their own medicines."

* * *

**How was Chapter 33? Did you like it? Due to all the complaints I received about taking away Gray from the story, I brought him back with a plot twist. I also improved the StiCy with Sting and Lucy by putting them in a scenario of comfort and calmness being needed, too. The Plant Magic is gone, since this makes the last chapter technically become a semi-filler, and I did not want Lucy becoming too godly. Anyway, standby for the update!**


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